(AP) -- The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal's new chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte of Switzerland, said Wednesday she will maintain the court's focus on gathering evidence against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

(AP) -- The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal's new chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte of Switzerland, said Wednesday she will maintain the court's focus on gathering evidence against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and others suspected of atrocities in Kosovo.

In a statement issued by the United Nations tribunal in The Hague, Del Ponte reiterated the position of her predecessor, Louise Arbour, that the court has the authority and jurisdiction to gather information that might bolster its cases against Milosevic, his political associates and others.

The tribunal indicted Milosevic and four top advisers in May for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 18-month Kosovo conflict. It has not ruled out the possibility that other charges, including genocide, could be brought against the five.

"The primary focus ... must be the investigation and prosecution of the five leaders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia, who have already been indicted," the statement said.

Del Ponte, a former Swiss federal prosecutor who took over earlier this month from Arbour after the Canadian left the court to take a seat on Canada's Supreme Court, said the tribunal would assist when possible in any cases of human rights abuses or sexual crimes in Kosovo.

She added, however, that the tribunal will rely on national criminal courts established under U.N. authority to prosecute most suspects locally, leaving The Hague to concentrate on cases involving more senior suspects.

"The limits of jurisdiction cannot be ignored and must be taken into account along with a prosecution strategy that properly focuses on the leadership investigative targets, as well as perpetrators of particularly serious crimes or crimes of sexual violence," she said.

In a recent example, tribunal investigators supplied local authorities with intelligence information used to arrest nine Serbs last weekend for alleged crimes against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

All nine will be tried by local officials using information supplied by the tribunal.

In an effort to strengthen tribunal investigative operations in Kosovo, Del Ponte planned to meet on Thursday with Louis Freeh, the director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Foreign investigators from several U.N. member countries have been assisting the tribunal in its work in Kosovo. The FBI also contributed a large team of forensic experts.

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