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Yugoslavia's upper house of parliament has approved a law allowing the extradition of war crimes suspects to the United Nations tribunal at The Hague. 

The Yugoslav Chamber of Republics, by a 25-7 vote, approved the draft bill permitting the extraditions, but limiting them only to suspects already indicted by the tribunal. The vote follows similar action by Yugoslavia's Serbian and Montenegrin republics. 

The lower house, The Chamber of Citizens, has opened debate on the measure, but put off a vote until Thursday. 

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Hague Tribunal's chief prosecutor criticized the new bill as insufficient. She noted that the tribunal demands complete and unconditional cooperation. 

Passage of the law in parliament is seen as a Yugoslav effort to get millions of dollars in frozen U.S. aid flowing to the country. 

The U.S. Congress recently halted the aid to Belgrade after Yugoslav authorities failed to meet a March 31 deadline to show they were cooperating with The Hague tribunal. 

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has postponed a decision on whether to cut off aid completely and withdraw U.S. support for additional loans. The postponement was designed to give Yugoslavia a final chance to begin cooperating. 

Some information for this report provided by AFP.

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