Croatian Pm Lobbies Blair for Softer Line on Wanted War Crimes Suspect

The Croatian prime minister Ivica Racan, who will meet Tony Blair in London today, is being blocked from taking his country into EU membership by a British ultimatum to hand over a war crimes suspect.

General Ante Gotovina, a former French foreign legionnaire who led the 1995 rout of Serbian rebels and Yugoslav forces which gave Croatia victory, has been on the run for more than two years since being indicted by the Hague tribunal.

He is the tribunal's most wanted suspect after Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb leaders indicted for genocide. Croatia says it cannot find him.

To put pressure on Mr Racan, Britain and the Netherlands are withholding their ratification of Croatia's association agreement with the EU, a necessary precursor to membership negotiations.

This single problem "has taken over the relationship with Great Britain," Mr Racan said before leaving for London.

"Croatia cannot be punished because it should have done something that it has not been able to do."

But British officials have made it clear that the embargo will stay unless Gen Gotovina surrenders or is arrested within a couple of weeks.

The case is the subject of claims and counter-claims by Zagreb, the Hague and western European capitals.

In a confidential briefing of EU embassies in Zagreb the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, said Mr Racan was being sabotaged by rogue elements in his security services who were protecting the general.

The Croatian media then quoted officials in Zagreb complaining that British intelligence was deliberately feeding misinformation to Ms Del Ponte that Gen Gotovina was hiding in Croatia.

The Croats insist that the general is living in an EU capital, and are asking western intelligence agencies for help in seizing him. Officials in the Hague say such help could be used to tip off the general.

"Even if there were no problems with the security services they still would not be able to solve the problem of Gotovina, who is hiding somewhere in Europe," said Mr Racan.

But on Friday, after meeting Mr Racan's deputy, Goran Granic, Ms Del Ponte's spokeswoman, Florence Hartmann, insisted that he was in Croatia.

When Gen Gotovina was indicted secretly in June 2001 the Croatian government was told, and given six weeks to arrest him before the indictment was made public. The general was tipped off and fled the day before the deadline.

This summer he gave a series of interviews to a Zagreb magazine. Western European diplomats are convinced that they were arranged with the help of senior Croats.

"Gotovina has got to go to the Hague. That is non-negotiable," Mr Racan said. "That's my position, and it's not that popular here in Croatia." Ms Del Ponte is due to report to the UN security council in two weeks on whether Croatia is "cooperating fully" with the tribunal. A negative report will harden the British stance.

Mr Racan, a social democrat and former communist who is widely regarded as a shrewd and decent, if indecisive, prime minister, said that continued British blocking could jeopardise stability in Croatia and cause ripples across former Yugoslavia.

In addition to Mr Blair, Mr Racan is to see the foreign, defence, and home secretaries and to attend the Labour Party conference.

"We are in a race against the clock," he said. "That's why it is so important for democratic Croatia to be helped by Great Britain in particular.

"Croatia can be destabilised quite easily. But we've had quite enough of that in the Balkans, and I hope we've all learned some lessons."