Image copyright Reuters Image caption Some 20,000 people died during Croatia's war of independence 
 
 The International Court of Justice has rejected claims of genocide by Serbia and Croatia against each other during the Croatian war of secession from Yugoslavia. 
 
 The Croatian government had alleged that Serbia committed genocide in the town of Vukovar and elsewhere in 1991. 
 
 Serbia later filed a counter-claim over the expulsion of more than 200,000 Serbs from Croatia. 
 
 About 20,000 people died during the 1991-1995 war, mostly Croatians. 
 
 The Croatian town of Vukovar was devastated when it was occupied by Serbs for three months in 1991. Tens of thousands of ethnic Croats were displaced, and about 260 Croat men were detained and killed. 
 
 Four years later, the Croatian military's Operation Storm bombarded the majority ethnic-Serb Krajina area, forcing about 200,000 people from their homes. 
 
 Speaking in court on Tuesday, Judge Peter Tomka dismissed both the Croatian claim and the Serbian counter-claim. 
 
 Forces on both sides had carried out violent acts during the war, Judge Tomka said. However, neither side had provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate the "specific intent required for acts of genocide". 
 
 The court's ruling was posted online. 
 
 Analysis: Guy Delauney, BBC Belgrade 
 
 The International Court of Justice has delivered the result that most people here were expecting, with both genocide suits dismissed in their entirety. The only mystery is why the cases ever progressed this far. 
 
 It is hard to see what either side was hoping to achieve - other than to have unflattering details from the conflict of the 1990s highlighted once more. 
 
 Both Croatia and Serbia may have been cleared of genocide, but the ICJ said that both sides had deliberately forced minority ethnic groups out of areas they controlled. 
 
 So there is little cause for celebration in Belgrade or Zagreb. But at least a toxic saga which has been rumbling for 16 years has finally drawn to a close. 
 
 Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selkovic said the ruling would "start a new and blank page in our relationship with Croatia" and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said he hoped it would lead to "a period of lasting peace and prosperity" in the region. 
 
 Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said: "We are not satisfied with the court's ruling but we accept it in a civilised manner." 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Judge Peter Tomka delivers his verdict 
 
 Croatia filed its initial case with the International Court of Justice - the top UN court - in 1999, accusing Serbs, led by President Slobodan Milosevic, of targeting ethnic Croats during the conflict. 
 
 It wanted Serbia to pay compensation for damages "to persons and properties as well as to the Croatian economy and environment". 
 
 In 2010, Serbia responded to Croatia's case with a countersuit, saying that ethnics Serbs were expelled when Croatia launched its 1995 operation to retake territory captured by Serbs. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Anna Holligan explains the background to the cases heard at the ICJ 
 
 "What is generally called ethnic cleansing does not constitute genocide," Judge Tomka said in his ruling against Serbia's claim. 
 
 "Acts of ethnic cleansing may be part of a genocidal plan but only if there is an intention to physically destroy the target group." 
 
 The BBC's Anna Holligan in The Hague says although genocide is the most serious of international crimes, it is also the hardest to prove. 
 
 'End of a process' 
 
 Relations between the two countries have improved in recent years but in 2012 Serbia was outraged when Operation Storm commander Ante Gotovina was cleared on appeal by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 
 
 Image copyright EPA Image caption The verdict delivered by Judge Peter Tomka (centre) is final 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Serbs were forced from their homes by the Croatian military's Operation Storm 
 
 Last week, ahead of the verdict, Vukovar resident Kata Lozancic told Reuters news agency she believed genocide had taken place in her town. 
 
 "Everything from cultural and natural sites, to people, everything was destroyed," she said. 
 
 A refugee in Serbia, identified only as Dragica, expressed unhappiness at the Croatian government's claims. "They expelled us Serbs, and now they [claim they] are not criminals, and we are," she told Reuters. 
 
 UN 1948 Genocide Convention 
 
 Act committed with intent to destroy in whole or part a national, ethnical, racial or religious group 
 
 Killing members of the group 
 
 Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group 
 
 Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring physical destruction 
 
 Imposing measures intended to prevent births 
 
 Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group 
 
 Yugoslavia became a Socialist state after World War Two. It consisted of six republics: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. 
 
 The federation began falling apart in the early 1990s. Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Macedonia declared independence, sparking conflicts with the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army. All four countries were eventually recognised as independent by the UN. 
 
 In 2006, Montenegro also emerged as a sovereign state after a referendum for independence, ending the former Union of Serbia and Montenegro. ||||| The Peace Palace, which houses The International Court of Justice, is seen in The Hague July 22, 2010. EUTERS/Jerry Lampen 
 
 THE HAGUE The United Nations' highest court will rule on Tuesday on genocide cases filed by Serbia and Croatia over atrocities allegedly committed during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. 
 
 The countries filed complaints against each other at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which could award financial compensation if it finds either side violated the 1948 Genocide Convention. 
 
 The cases, filed 16 years ago, are part of the long legal fall-out from the break-up of Yugoslavia into seven states in wars that lasted eight years and left more than 100,000 dead in Europe's worst conflagration since World War Two. 
 
 The ruling, which is due to start at 0900 GMT (4:00 a.m. ET), could stoke political tensions in both countries. 
 
 "What's really at stake is both states trying to justify their wars," said Eric Gordy, a professor at London's School of Slavonic and East European Studies. 
 
 "The strongest arguments they have to say they are justifying their wars is that they were defending their citizens against genocide," he added. 
 
 The U.N. tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which is also in The Hague, has long since ruled that genocide was committed in Bosnia, where more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed when the U.N. 'safe haven' of Srebrenica fell to Bosnian Serb forces in 1995. 
 
 Despite widespread atrocities against all sides, no court has ruled that ethnic Croats or Serbs were victims of genocide. Recent acquittals of suspects at the Yugoslav tribunal stoked anger in the two countries. 
 
 Many experts believe Tuesday's ruling is unlikely to find Croatia or Serbia liable for genocide if no individuals from either country have been convicted of the crime. 
 
 Croatia alleges that Serbia's destruction of towns and expulsion of ethnic Croats in Slavonia amounted to genocide. In turn, Serbia accuses Croatia of genocide over the expulsion of Serbs from Krajina. 
 
 In an earlier ruling from 2007 in a case brought by Bosnia, the same court found that Serbia was not responsible for genocide, but that it had breached the genocide convention by failing to prevent the massacre in Srebrenica. 
 
 (Editing by Anthony Deutsch and Andrew Heavens) ||||| Serbia judges reject Ratko Mladic extradition appeal 
 
 Serbia's war crimes court has rejected Ratko Mladic's appeal against his transfer to the UN tribunal in The Hague to face genocide charges. 
 
 The Belgrade court took just hours to make its decision after receiving the appeal papers on Tuesday morning. 
 
 Gen Mladic's lawyer posted the appeal on Monday, saying the former Bosnian Serb commander needed medical attention and was too ill to face trial. 
 
 Doctors who examined him on Friday said he was fit enough to be extradited. 
 
 The 69-year-old was seized last Thursday in Lazarevo village, north of Belgrade, having been on the run for 16 years. 
 
 Gen Mladic is accused of crimes against humanity committed during the Bosnian war, including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 7,500 Muslim men and boys. 
 
 Delaying tactic? 
 
 Now the appeal has been rejected, Serbia's deputy war crimes prosecutor Bruno Vekaric said Gen Mladic would be sent to the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague "as soon as possible". 
 
 The extradition order must first be signed by Serbia's justice minister, who will hold a news conference later on Tuesday, prompting speculation Gen Mladic could be put on a flight to The Hague later in the day, says the BBC's Mark Lowen in Belgrade. 
 
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 From there, he is expected to be flown by helicopter to the ICTY detention unit in the city's Scheveningen neighbourhood. 
 
 Once he has arrived at the tribunal, there will be an initial hearing before preparations begin for his trial on genocide and other charges. 
 
 Despite a decision by a Belgrade court that Gen Mladic was fit enough to be handed over to the UN court, defence lawyer Milos Saljic said earlier he would request another independent medical examination, saying his client's health had deteriorated since his arrest. 
 
 Serbian court officials had earlier dismissed the claim of ill health as a delaying tactic, dismissing as unfounded media reports that Gen Mladic had hearing difficulties and that his right arm was paralysed - possibly as a result of a stroke. 
 
 Candle and flowers 
 
 Earlier on Tuesday Gen Mladic had been allowed to visit the grave of his daughter Ana, albeit under heavy security. 
 
 Ana Mladic committed suicide in 1994 aged 23, reportedly shooting herself with her father's favourite pistol after she read about his alleged crimes in a magazine. 
 
 During the 20-minute visit to her grave, Gen Mladic lit a candle and he left a small white bouquet of flowers with a red rose in the middle, said Serbia's deputy war crimes prosecutor, Bruno Vekaric. 
 
 War in the former Yugoslavia 1991 - 1999 The former Yugoslavia was a Socialist state created after German occupation in World War II and a bitter civil war. A federation of six republics, it brought together Serbs, Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Albanians, Slovenes and others under a comparatively relaxed communist regime. Tensions between these groups were successfully suppressed under the leadership of President Tito. After Tito's death in 1980, tensions re-emerged. Calls for more autonomy within Yugoslavia by nationalist groups led in 1991 to declarations of independence in Croatia and Slovenia. The Serb-dominated Yugoslav army lashed out, first in Slovenia and then in Croatia. Thousands were killed in the latter conflict which was paused in 1992 under a UN-monitored ceasefire. Bosnia, with a complex mix of Serbs, Muslims and Croats, was next to try for independence. Bosnia's Serbs, backed by Serbs elsewhere in Yugoslavia, resisted. Under leader Radovan Karadzic, they threatened bloodshed if Bosnia's Muslims and Croats - who outnumbered Serbs - broke away. Despite European blessing for the move in a 1992 referendum, war came fast. Yugoslav army units, withdrawn from Croatia and renamed the Bosnian Serb Army, carved out a huge swathe of Serb-dominated territory. Over a million Bosnian Muslims and Croats were driven from their homes in ethnic cleansing. Serbs suffered too. The capital Sarajevo was besieged and shelled. UN peacekeepers, brought in to quell the fighting, were seen as ineffective. International peace efforts to stop the war failed, the UN was humiliated and over 100,000 died. The war ended in 1995 after NATO bombed the Bosnian Serbs and Muslim and Croat armies made gains on the ground. A US-brokered peace divided Bosnia into two self-governing entities, a Bosnian Serb republic and a Muslim-Croat federation lightly bound by a central government. In August 1995 the Croatian army stormed areas in Croatia under Serb control prompting thousands to flee. Soon Croatia and Bosnia were fully independent. Slovenia and Macedonia had already gone. Montenegro left later. In 1999 Kosovo's ethnic Albanians fought Serbs in another brutal war to gain independence. Serbia ended the conflict beaten, battered and alone. BACK {current} of {total} NEXT 
 
 Gen Mladic's arrest is considered crucial to Serbia's bid to join the European Union. 
 
 Darko Mladic has said his father had told him he was not responsible for the killings in Srebrenica, committed after his troops overran the town in July 1995. 
 
 Following the arrest of Radovan Karadzic in 2008, Gen Mladic became the most prominent Bosnian war crimes suspect still at large. 
 
 He was indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague in 1995 for genocide over Srebrenica - the worst single atrocity in Europe since World War II - and other alleged crimes. 
 
 Having lived freely in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, he disappeared after the arrest of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 2001. 
 
 On Sunday, thousands of people rallied in Belgrade against his arrest, hailing the general as a Serbian national hero and decrying the pro-Western government of President Boris Tadic for arresting him. 
 
 About 100 people were arrested during clashes with police. 
 
 The government will hope Gen Mladic's departure will quell any further demonstrations by his supporters, adds our correspondent.
– Neither Serbia nor Croatia committed genocide in the wake of Yugoslavia's collapse, the International Court of Justice says in a verdict this morning from the Hague, per Reuters. In a case filed in 1999, Croatia had claimed Serbia committed genocide, including during a three-month occupation in Vukovar, during the Balkan Wars from 1991 to 1995. Serbia countered in 2010, alleging that Croatia expelled 200,000 Serbs, the BBC reports. Judge Peter Tomka said both countries were guilty of many crimes, but ruled the intent to commit genocide was not proven in the Serbian case, while the charge against Croatia was "dismissed in its entirety." Tens of thousands of ethnic Croats were displaced when the Croatian town of Vukovar was occupied by Serbs in 1991. Some 260 men were detained and killed. The Croatian military then bombarded ethnic Serbs in Krajina in 1995, displacing 200,000, the BBC notes. The decision "will put an end to both sides' fight to prove who the worst criminal is," Serbia's foreign minister said ahead of the decision. Both sides said they would accept the verdict. If either side had been found guilty of genocide, financial compensation may have been awarded, Reuters reports. (Serbia and Croatia recently teamed up to solve a massacre during the conflict.)