After de arrest of Radovan Karadzic, he is Serbia's most wanted war-crimes renegade, General Ratko Mladic. He could be behind bars by the end of August. Sources within the Serbian government told the Belgrade daily newspaper Blic that Belgrade would try to arrest Mladic this month. Members of the team tasked with locating and arresting Mladic had even postponed their summer holidays.

Blic, which claims to be well informed by the Serbian Intelligence Services, said on Thursday that Belgrade counts on the conclusion of the "Hague story" this summer. Officials have even asked the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia's (ICTY) prosecutor Serge Brammertz to reschedule his trip to Belgrade, tentatively planned for the end of the August. His visit might then follow after the arrest of Mladic.

The closing of the Hague chapter is crucial for Serbia's steps towards European Union membership, which is the current government's focal aspiration. Western countries praised former Serbian wartime leader Radovan Karadzic's arrest last month as a momentous development. Nonetheless, Europe and the US persist demanding that Serbia completes its collaboration with the ICTY by catching the remaining two fugitives Mladic and Goran Hadzic.

Ordinary life
The Serbian police said on Wednesday they were continuing their activities to break up the network supporting Mladic. "The regular exchange of information is under way between security agencies on finding and arresting Ratko Mladic," police director Uros Pena Pena told reporters. "These activities will continue until Mladic is arrested or surrendered."

There are rumours that Mladic is hiding in New Belgrade and is shielded by a small group of henchmen. It is also said he is living an everyday life just like Karadzic, although not as openly as his former chief. Mladic's arrest shall be more difficult because he will be extra cautious after Karadzic's arrest. And even if they find him "Mladic would rather kill himself instead of spending the rest of his life behind bars," Mladic's cousin Goran said.

Priority
Serbia's special war crimes prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic, said that the arrest of Mladic and Hadzic was Belgrade's priority. He said Serbia could not count itself a legal or civilised state "unless we morally purify ourselves by arresting those accused of the gravest violation of humanitarian laws".

In advance of Serge Brammertz's visit, Vukcevic stressed that it was time for the tribunal to "clearly support Serbia with a positive report on its cooperation" with the ICTY.

Surrender
Serbian officials on Wednesday urged General Mladic, to surrender "in his own interest and that of the country". Serbia's Defence Minister, Dragan Sutanovac said that both Mladic and Hadzic "must soon surrender or be arrested in order for Serbia to honour its own laws and international laws and obtain the status its citizens deserve. The whole country remains their hostage."

Rasim Ljajic, head of the National Council for Cooperation with ICTY said the two could not "spend a lifetime in hiding," referring to the recent arrest Karadzic, who was in hiding for 13 years before being apprehended in Belgrade last month. Karadzic was transferred to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague 30 July.

War crimes charges
Mladic and the Croatian Serb wartime leader Hadzic are the only two remaining Serbian war crimes fugitives sought by the Yugoslav Tribunal. The ICTY twice indicted Karadzic and Mladic for genocide in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, while Hadzic is charged with war crimes committed by local Serbs in the war in Croatia.