(8 Sep 2006)
1. Serbian Pre sident Boris Tadic standing
2. Cutaway of Tadic's hands
3. Medium shot of Tadic
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Boris Tadic, Serbian President:
(Question: Do you have any idea where he (Ratko Mladic) is? Do you know if he is in Serbia?)
Answer: "Unfortunately not and this is our big frustration. First of all we know this is out obligation. Secondly, this is the main obstacle in terms of our relations with the United States and the European Union. For that reason, we have a blocking of negotiations about the agreement with the European Union. We have a strategic interest to become a member of the European Union. Without delivering Ratko Mladic we cannot become a full member state. For that reason this is in our own interest to capture Ratko Mladic and send him to the Hague."
5. Medium shot of Tadic
6. CutawayTadic's hands
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Boris Tadic, Serbian President:
"I'm against the partition of current countries in the (Balkan) region. I'm for integration of the regional countries and some association of the countries, closer relations, building better circumstance for our economy, a bigger market. For that reason, I think all instabilities are going to be counterproductive in terms of the future of the Balkan region."
8. Close up of hands
9. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Serbian President Boris Tadic
"It is the utmost interest of the state of Serbia to solve the problem of cooperation with the Hague Tribunal and (problem of) sending Ratko Mladic in the Hague Tribunal. Failing that, we would have substantial obstacles in the cooperation with the US and the financial aid from the US. It is also well known fact that the process or our stabilisation and association talks with the EU might be blocked for long time. It is a vital interest of the state of Serbia to solve that problem and continue integration processes."
10. Medium shot Tadic standing
STORYLINE:
Seven years after the NATO-led Kosovo war, Serbian President Boris Tadic is attempting to overcome the stigma of "the Milosevic experience" by joining international peacekeeping operations far from home and trying to hasten the healing process in the violence-prone Balkan region.
Currently on visit to the US, Tadic said one of his biggest frustrations was trying to convince Americans and Europeans that he is genuinely eager to track down former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic for delivery to the war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands.
He spoke AP Television in his hotel suite on Thursday after meeting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security adviser Stephen Hadley and congressional leaders.
He also delivered a speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
He meets on Friday with US Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
Mladic, a fugitive from Bosnia's 1992-95 war, was indicted by The Hague court for laying siege to Sarajevo and masterminding the massacre of thousands of men and boys in 1995 in Srebrenica.
Successive American administrations have maintained that Mladic is hiding out in Serbia, but Tadic said there is no proof of that allegation, nor is it clear whether the General is even alive.
He agreed with the proposition that it was unfair for the United States and other countries to link their relations with Serbia to the capture of a single individual.
Former President Slobodan Milosevic guided his country through devastating wars during the 1990's before he was ousted from power and taken before The Hague court.
He died last March, four years after his war crimes trial began.
The Kosovo conflict war took place during Milosevic's last full year in office.
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