AMSTERDAM, March 18 (Reuters) - The U.N. war crimes tribunal on Tuesday postponed the start of the trial of a former Serbian secret service chief and of an elite Serb forces commander, because the former was suffering serious health problems.

Jovica Stanisic, the head of intelligence for the late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, is accused along with former commander Franko Simatovic, of arming and training militias which committed atrocities in Croatia and Bosnia during the Balkan wars.

Their trial had been due to start on Monday but was delayed when Stanisic failed to show up in court.

According to a prison medical officer, the 57-year-old has various problems including osteoporosis and kidney stones. He is also being treated for depression, presiding Judge Patrick Robinson told the court on Tuesday.

"That treatment would take some time because the causes of the depression are partly of a permanent nature. The depression exacerbates his physical condition and vice versa," Robinson said.

He asked for the accused to be examined by an independent psychiatrist and scheduled a hearing for April 1 to reassess Stanisic's health.

"It is the expectation of the chamber that the accused will be able to attend. He is getting the best available treatment and we wish him a very speedy recovery," Robinson said.

The two men are charged with being members of a "joint criminal enterprise" alongside Milosevic and others aimed at driving non-Serbs from swathes of Croatia and Bosnia during the wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1995.

Both have pleaded not guilty.

The trial is hoped to shed more light on Serbia's involvement in the fighting in Bosnia and Croatia. Milosevic died of a heart attack in 2006 while on trial at the war crimes tribunal. (Reporting by Catherine Hornby; Editing by Matthew Jones)

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