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Brussels: The European Union on Tuesday hailed the arrest of ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, calling it a key step toward lasting reconciliation in the western Balkans and for Serbia's hopes of joining the EU.
Karadzic, 63, was arrested on Monday evening in a Belgrade suburb after more than a decade on the run.
Charged with organising the deadly siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 massacre of up to 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica, he had topped the most-wanted list of the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and European Commission President Manuel Barroso welcomed the news at a monthly EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.
The EU and Serbia signed a pre-membership trade and aid pact in April. However, the deal would only take effect once Belgrade fully cooperates with the Yugoslav tribunal and hand over war suspects.
The secretary general of the Strasbourg, France-based Council of Europe hailed the arrest, saying: "This man was responsible for some of the worst abuses of human rights in Europe in the last 60 years."
EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana expressed "immense satisfaction" with the arrest and praised Serb authorities for demonstrating their desire to cooperate fully with the tribunal.
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