Serbia's lack of cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is "the single most important obstacle" to the court completing its work, chief prosecutor Ms Carla Del Ponte said today.
In the text of a report she was due to deliver later to the United Nations Security Council, Ms Del Ponte said Belgrade "has deliberately chosen to ignore its legal obligations" and maintained an "attitude of defiance" towards The Hague.
Serbia was braced for the strong criticism. Belgrade media and politicians expect that United States economic aid may once again be partially frozen by the US Congress because of its failure to satisfy the tribunal.
Prime Minister Mr Vojislav Kostunica has repeatedly insisted he is cooperating, but at the same time four prominent generals indicted by the tribunal remain free in Serbia and he has said they will not be forcibly handed over.
Ms Del Ponte also singled out Republika Srpska - the Serb half of Bosnia - for failing to arrest a single war crimes suspect despite repeatedly pledging to co-operate fully with the court.
This demonstrated that there were "fundamental systemic weaknesses built into the law enforcement and security structures in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in particular the Republika Srpska", she added.
Nine years almost to the day that the Dayton Peace accords were signed ending the war in Bosnia, the tribunal's two most wanted men are still at large.
Bosnian Serb "president" Radovan Karadzic and his army commander General Ratko Mladic face two counts of genocide for the slaughter of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in July 1995, and for the 43-month siege of Sarajevo which killed around 12,000 citizens.
The US commander of the outgoing Nato peace force in Bosnia today denied the allies were embarrassed by a failure to arrest Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, the Hague war crimes tribunal's top suspects.
Nato's nine-year-old Stabilisation Force (SFOR) is due to hand over peacekeeping duties in Bosnia next week to a new European Union Force, without fulfilling its ambition to bring two of the world's most wanted men to justice.
SFOR commander Brigadier General Steven Schook told a news conference Nato was "absolutely not" embarrassed by the fact.