December 8, 2005
Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Washington, DC

Croatia: Gotovina’s Capture

The United States welcomes the news that Ante Gotovina was arrested in the Canary Islands. We congratulate Croatian and Spanish authorities for their efforts that led to his arrest.

With the arrest of Mr. Gotovina, Croatia has now taken a major step forward toward addressing the injustices of its recent past. With the success of its considerable efforts to locate and bring Gotovina to justice, Croatia significantly strengthens its candidacy for its eventual full Euro-Atlantic integration.

The United States welcomes his prompt extradition to The Hague where he can stand trial for the crimes for which he has been indicted. We congratulate the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for their steadfast commitment in seeing Gotovina and other war criminals brought to justice.

Gotovina’s arrest underscores the need to resolve completely the remaining war crimes cases.

The United States calls on the Government of Serbia-Montenegro and the Bosnian Serb authorities to fulfill their international obligations to the Hague Tribunal without any further delay, in particular through the apprehension and transfer to The Hague of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, for whom the Tribunal’s doors will always remain open.

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