大象传媒

Alan Johnston introduces insight, wit and analysis from 大象传媒 correspondents around the world. In this edition, Nick Thorpe on the enduring support General Mladic still commands among some Serbs, and Peter Meanwell on the Sri Lanka's music of mourning.

Memories of Mladic

Every prisoner spends his first days in jail trying to adapt to the rhythm of the place - the guards, the sounds, the food and so on. The former Bosnian Serb army commander, Radko Mladic must surely be going through that process now, in his first days in his cell in the Hague. He'll soon face trial there on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Nick Thorpe has been retracing General Mladic's past, and spending time in the village where he grew up in Bosnia - where there are some who still support him.

Songs of grief

It's now two years since the Sri Lankan government declared victory over the Tamil Tiger guerrillas. What remained of the rebel forces had been crushed in one last, terrible battle.

Throughout the long conflict, the north of the island was the scene of the vast majority of the violence. But the ending of the war has given way to something much less than complete peace and calm - as Peter Meanwell found out on a recent trip to record the songs of the region.