World leaders have welcomed the capture of Croatia's fugitive war crimes suspect Gen Ante Gotovina in Spain.

The arrest of Ante Gotovina is very good news. For reconciliation in the region of the western Balkans and for ICTY [International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia] to successfully accomplish its work, it is fundamentally important that all indictees are brought to justice.

General Ante Gotovina's remaining at large has been one of the biggest obstacles to Croatia's EU and Nato prospects. The spotlight inevitably now falls on the two remaining of the 'big three' high profile fugitive indictees, [Radovan] Karadzic and [Ratko] Mladic. I call on the Serbian and Bosnian authorities to redouble their efforts to locate and transfer these fugitives to The Hague Tribunal as soon as possible.

This arrest is obviously a major step forward for Croatia on its road to eventual Nato membership. It was clearly, therefore, in the best interests of Croatia, and we see it as a key step toward reconciliation in the region.

We salute the arrest of war criminal Gotovina.

The arrest of Gotovina is good news for the world, for bringing people to justice who are not yet convicted but who are accused of very serious crimes, and indeed I think it is also good news for Croatia... Karadzic and Mladic should be at the Hague and not at large.

It is the final confirmation of the credibility of Croatia and its state institutions. Those who believed us when we were saying that Gotovina was not in Croatia today received the final and complete confirmation.

I congratulate Croatia. It's very important. We have to do this in all countries in the region.

I hope pro-European forces in Serbia will be additionally encouraged, and anti-European forces protecting Gen Mladic additionally disappointed.

It looks like our general has lost the first battle. What remains is a legal fight.