Serbia press abuzz over Mladic

Gen Mladic is wanted for war crimes including genocide

Newspapers in Serbia are in a state of high excitement over the whereabouts of war crimes suspect General Ratko Mladic, with most reporting he has been found and will be taken into custody shortly.

One report says he is in a highly emotional state and has even talked of suicide.

Two leading Belgrade dailies, Vecernje novosti and Blic, carry the same front-page headline "MLADIC ENCIRCLED".

Vecernje novosti quotes a source from the National Council for Co-operation with the Hague tribunal as saying that Gen Mladic "is in a very difficult psychological state".

"He is affected by mood swings, changes topics constantly, threatens that he will not surrender easily, talks about the worst-case scenario - suicide, and then concludes that 'the Serb people are the most important to him and that he will not let the state go to ruin because of him'," the source is quoted as saying.

Tough negotiations are under way Glas javnosti

"All political preparations for the arrest of the most wanted Hague indictee have been completed in Serbia. Gen Mladic has only a few days left to surrender. If he fails to do this, a lightning-quick operation will be launched by special Serbian police units," the Vecernje novosti report adds.

According to Blic, "Ratko Mladic's exact location is known and direct negotiations are under way on his surrender to the Hague tribunal or on his arrest".

Quoting "well-informed sources", Blic says that on Tuesday night, "tough negotiations with him were under way".

Tough talking

Another Belgrade daily, Glas javnosti, says a source close to the government told it that Gen Mladic had been located on Mt Cer, near the border with Bosnia, and then transferred to the capital.

"Tough negotiations are under way. Serbian authorities would prefer if Mladic appeared before cameras saying he voluntarily surrendered to the tribunal."

The report goes on to say the bargaining "might take several days and only after that will Mladic be transferred to The Hague".

The reports are a provocation Dnevnik

"Glas javnosti has also learned that Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has made a deal with Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte so that Mladic's transfer to The Hague could ease pressure on Serbia regarding the last most wanted man - the wartime political leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic."

However,Dnevnik, a leading daily in Serbia's second city Novi Sad, is more cautious about the possibility of Gen Mladic's imminent capture, suggesting "the reports are a provocation aimed at some of the weaker links in Mladic's protective chain. If they react nervously they could give away the general's hiding place."

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.