Global Policy Forum

NATO confirms use of depleted uranium

Brussels - NATO Secretary-General George Robertson confirmed that NATO officials and its command violated the Geneva Convention by using banned cluster bombs during the aggression on Yugoslavia, and ammunition with depleted uranium filling in Kosovo. This was admitted in Robertson's answer to a UN request for a detailed report about the use of dangerous radioactive ammunition. However, the mere confirmation of the use of depleted uranium is not sufficient. NATO has to give precise information as to where such ammunition was used in order to enable adequate protection measures, the UN Environment Program experts said.

At a press conference in Geneva Tuesday, quoted by media in Brussels, the head of the Balkan Task Force of the UN body Pekka Haavisto said that the fact that NATO admitted the use of depleted uranium is not so alarming. He added that scientific data about the use of such weapons were limited and that it was impossible to establish the number of individuals exposed to radiation taking into account only what Robertson said. In his report, Robertson said that during the attacks on armoured vehicles in Kosovo and Metohija, 31,000 such bullets were used in 100 sorties. Haavisto estimates that the used ammunition amounts to 10 tons of depleted uranium. The places where the ammunition was used and its quantities are kept highly confidential. Robertson's latest report also contains no such information.

NATO leaders and American government officials still deny danger of the use of weapons with depleted uranium. The UN experts' analysis delivered to the European Union in Brussels warns about "serious threats to human health" due to the consequences of NATO attack on Yugoslavia. The UN experts have established that bombardment had not caused ecological catastrophe, but that it is now necessary to reduce pollution in several industrial centers: Pancevo, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Nis, Bor, Kraljevo and Prahovo.

Pristina - Kosovo and Metohija Temporary Executive Council member Bajram Haliti said that the holding of NATO and KFOR maneuvers in Serbia's Kosovo and Metohija province was the most violent threat to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Yugoslavia and directly in the service of supporting ethnic Albanian separatism and terrorism. Such provocative actions by KFOR present a serious destabilizing factor in the region and directly threaten peace and stability in Europe, Haliti warned.

The Security Council is obliged to prevent any digressions, delayed executions or arbitrary interpretations of the articles of Resolution 1244 and its annexes, and it is the sole party authorized to make the necessary interpretations of the articles of its resolution, Haliti pointed out.