Ratko Mladic Arrested.

The 2011 G8 Summit being held in France opened to the dramatic news that Serbia have arrested Ratko Mladic on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant relating to various alleged war crimes committed during the break up of Yugoslavia. As I was about twelve during that time I really can't comment on the specifics. However Ratko Mladic was the military commander of Bosnian-Serb forces who most certainly did commit war crimes during a very dirty war in which all sides committed war crimes.

The Spanish President of the European Union (EU), Jose Manuel Barroso who is attending the G8 Summit is claiming the credit for getting the Serb government to finally execute the ICC warrant. Apparently on a recent visit to the country Mr Barroso told the Serb government that their current bid to join the EU would most certainly fail unless Mr Mladic was arrested.

Although the arrest of Mladic is undoubtedly a good thing the timing is a little bit worrying. Since around October 2010 political tensions in the former Yugoslav state of Bosnia & Herzegovina have been running high with the Bosniaks and the Bosnian-Serbs unable to agree on the formation of a new government. The arrest of Mladic, who is seen as a heroic saviour by many Bosnian-Serbs is unlikely to calm the situation down any and the Bosniaks are going to be less then happy with the news that Serbia could soon be joining the EU. Therefore Barroso intends to use the tension generated by the arrest to bring up the long running argument over the ICC's lack of impartiality in order to expand but not necessarily reform the ICC's remit.