[CTRL] UNEP News Release 00/33 - NATO CONFIRMS TO THE UNITED NATIONS, USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM

[Mrs. Jela Jovanovic, Secretary General]

-Caveat Lector-   <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">
</A> -Cui Bono?-

===========================
The Committee for National Solidarity
Tolstojeva 34, 11000 Belgrade, YU
UNEP/UNCHS News Release.  For information only.  Not an official
record.


Jointly issued by UNEP/UNCHS


NATO CONFIRMS TO THE UNITED NATIONS,  USE OF
DEPLETED URANIUM DURING THE KOSOVO CONFLICT

GENEVA, 21 March 2000 -  The North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) has confirmed to the
United Nations that depleted uranium (DU) was
used during the Kosovo conflict.  But, according
to the Joint UNEP/UNCHS Balkans Task Force (BTF)
the information provided is not of sufficient
detail to facilitate an accurate field
assessment of the environmental and human health
consequences of its us
at the present time.

The new information on DU was sent to the United
Nations  Secretary-General, Kofi Annan from NATO
Secretary-General, Lord Robertson and  states:

"DU rounds were used whenever the A-10 engaged
armour during Operation Allied Force.
Therefore, it was used throughout Kosovo during
approximately 100 missions... A total of
approximately 31,000 rounds of DU ammunition
were used in operation Allied Force.  The major
focus of these operations was in an area west of
the Pec-Dakovica-Prizren highway; in the area
surrounding Klina; in the area around Prizren;
and in an area to the north of a line joining
Suva Reka and Urosevac.  However many missions
using DU also took place outside these areas."

This information was reviewed yesterday by
scientists from the BTF's Desk Assessment Group
on Depleted Uranium - an interagency group that
was established last year as part of the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)-led
assessment of the environmental consequences of
the Kosovo conflict.  Whilst welcoming the
positive cooperation of NATO, the group, which
includes experts from the World Health
Organization (WHO), the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Department for
Disarmament Affairs (DDA), and the Swedish
Radiation Protection Institute, concluded that
despite the additional information there was
still
insufficient data available on the exact
location of the DU ordnance to comprehensively
carry out an objective and scientifically based
environmental and
human health impact assessment in Kosovo.

The Group emphasized that the new information on
DU should not be a cause of widespread alarm.
However, it  also concluded that because of
NATO's confirmation that DU was used, the
recommendations made in their October 1999
report should be followed.  The Group's report,
which was based on the then best
available information, a hypothetical scenario
and unverified assumptions, recommends that at
places where contamination has been confirmed,
measures
should be taken to prevent access.  Local
authorities and people concerned should be
informed of the possible risks and appropriate
precautionary measures.

The conclusions of the BTF expert group have
been forwarded to the UN Secretary-General and
the heads of other concerned UN agencies, as
well as UNMIK in
Kosovo.

In the report, "The Kosovo Conflict -
Consequences for the Environment and Human
Settlements", the BTF raised the issue of the
consequences to human health and the environment
by the possible use of depleted uranium.  The
report recommended that a thorough review of the
health effects of exposure to DU should be
undertaken.

At yesterday's meeting in Geneva, the Desk
Assessment Group was advised that WHO is
preparing a more general, "generic" report on
the health effects of DU.  That report should be
available by the middle of May, 2000 and is not
specific to Kosovo.   The Royal Society (UK) is
also preparing an independent report on the
DU topic.

The issue of depleted uranium was only one part
of last year's assessment and the BTF's overall
report concluded that the Kosovo conflict did
not cause an environmental catastrophe affecting
the Balkans region as a whole, but that
pollution detected at four environmental "hot
spots" (Pancevo, Kragujevac, Novi Sad and Bor),
is serious and poses a threat to human health.
As part of the second phase of its work, the BTF
is currently preparing detailed environmental
clean-up feasibility studies (for submission to
donors) at the four mentioned sites in Serbia.

The BTF was set-up by Klaus Toepfer, Executive
Director of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and UN Centre for Human
Settlements, UNCHS
(Habitat), in May 1999, to assess the
environmental and human settlement consequences
of the Balkans conflict. Under the leadership of
the former Finnish
Environment and Development Cooperation
Minister, Pekka Haavisto, the BTF acted on the
recommendation of an earlier UN mission to the
region that a detailed
assessment of the full extent of the
environmental impact of the conflict be urgently
carried out.   The BTF report is available on
the Web at http://www.grid.unep.ch/btf.

*****


For more information, please contact:  Tore J.
Brevik, UNEP Spokesman/Director of
Communications and Public Information, P.O. Box
30552, Nairobi, Kenya; tel:  (254 2) 623292;
fax:  62-3692; Email:  [EMAIL PROTECTED] or
Robert Bisset, Office of the UNEP Spokesman and
BTF Press Officer in Geneva on: +41-22-917-8598,
Nairobi +254-2-623084, email:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


UNEP News Release 00/33








Secretary General
Mrs. Jela Jovanovic
Art  historian
===========================

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