KK-Forum,
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20010105_1535.html
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UN Tests Shows Kosovo Sites Radioactive-Report
BERLIN (Reuters) - Tests conducted by the United Nations Environmental
Program on sites in Kosovo struck by NATO ammunition with depleted uranium
have found evidence of significant radioactivity, a German newspaper said
on Friday. Germany"s TAZ daily said the UNEP tests had found that eight of
11 sites a U.N. team had tested in November were in part "considerably
contaminated." Uranium dust as well as unexploded munitions had been
discovered, the paper said in an advance release of a story due for
publication on Saturday. The paper said it had obtained a copy of an
interim UNEP report dated December 29, 2000. NATO has come under increasing
pressure from several European governments over claims that depleted
uranium used in NATO weapons had caused death or illness among Balkan
peacekeepers, dubbed "Balkans Syndrome." The condition came under the
spotlight after reports that six Italian soldiers who served in the former
Yugoslavia had developed leukemia and died after exposure to spent
ammunition. A U.N. report in May warned that much of Kosovo"s water could
be so contaminated as to be unfit to drink, and that a clean-up of the
province could cost billions of dollars. It warned U.N. staff not to
approach any target which might have been hit by a depleted uranium weapon.
U.S. attack jets fired some 31,000 rounds of depleted uranium ammunition
against Serbian targets during NATO"s 1999 campaign to drive the Yugoslav
army out of Kosovo. Some 10,000 rounds were also fired in neighboring
Bosnia in 1994-5. The 11 sites the UNEP tested were among 112 in Kosovo hit
by weapons containing depleted uranium according to a NATO map. The UNEP
considers that the 11 sites tested are representative of all 112 and wants
them all cordoned off, the paper said. The UNEP report also recommended
that health checks should be carried out at least on residents of the
immediate area, the paper said. Depleted uranium is used in the tips of
missiles, shells and bullets to increase their ability to penetrate armor
and can be pulverized on impact into a toxic radioactive dust, defense
experts say.
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Knut Rognes
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