BELGRADE (AP) - Pressure mounted yesterday on Serbia’s conservative government to arrest and hand over suspects wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal as two top officials warned that the issue may be jeopardizing the country’s future. Filip Vujanovic, the president of tiny Montenegro, Serbia’s junior partner in the Serbia-Montenegro union, and the defense minister, Prvoslav Davinic, blasted Serbia over a lack of cooperation with the court in The Hague, which has indicted 15 Serb fugitives. President Svetozar Marovic lashed out at Serbia on Sunday for its failure to apprehend the fugitives and warned the two-member union could split over it.

BRUSSELS (AP) - NATO and the EU said yesterday they are ready for this week’s takeover by the EU of the peacekeeping operation in Bosnia, which the Atlantic alliance has run since the country’s civil war ended in 1995. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the 7,000-strong mission would work to help Bosnia’s integration into Western institutions. They met jointly with Bosnia’s Defense Minister Nikola Radovanovic to discuss final details of Thursday’s handover of command.

Albania’s aging army has forsaken its offensive capabilities as part of its drive to join NATO, a Defense Ministry official said yesterday as soldiers marched through Tirana to celebrate liberation from German occupation in World War II. Some 3,500 soldiers took part in the march to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the country’s liberation. “Albania, which has decided to join NATO, wants to show with this military parade that its army is no longer offensive but is prepared for operations to keep peace and help the population,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igli Hasani said. (AFP)