EU pleased with Serbia 'progress'

Gen Mladic has been indicted over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre

The European Union says it will continue talks on closer ties with Serbia after a positive report from UN war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte.

Ms Del Ponte said there had been progress in Belgrade's co-operation in the hunt for fugitive Ratko Mladic.

The EU had said it would disrupt talks on closer ties with Belgrade unless the former Bosnian Serb commander was arrested - setting a 5 April deadline.

Mr Mladic has been indicted for crimes including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

He faces genocide charges for his alleged part in the massacre of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia during the Balkan wars.

He and the former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic top the UN war crimes tribunal's wanted list.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Ms Del Ponte had given a "credible possibility of concrete results in the weeks to come" and the talks would go ahead with Serbia in Vienna on Wednesday on that basis.

He said Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica had phoned him with a promise to deliver Mr Mladic without delay.

The BBC's Oana Lungescu, in Brussels, says the decision means Belgrade is off the hook, but not for long.

The EU says it will reassess progress at the end of April and decide - again - whether talks can continue.