Read Yugoslavia Messages

[d-3512]

Over 250,000 Krajina Serbs were ethnically cleansed . from their ancestral homes, thousands slaughtered, and those too old or infirm to . flee remained only to have their throats slit. Approximately 650,000 Serbs have . been driven out of Croatia since 1992 with little prospect of ever returning. It . was military aid and technology provided by the Clinton Administration, on the . advice of Madeleine Albright and Richard Holbrooke, that made it possible for . Croatian forces to conduct "Operation Storm" in order to achieve their goal of a . pure Croatian state that Hitler could only promise. Nor was there any outrage . from Congress when Croatian jets bombed and strafed Serbian refugee columns. . No general media outrage to what Charles Krauthammer described in Newsweek . (April 5, 1999) as "the largest ethnic cleansing of the entire Balkan wars. . Investigators with the war-crimes tribunal in The Hague have concluded that this . campaign was carried out with brutality, wanton murder and indiscriminate . shelling of civilians . . . No denunciation. No sanctions. No bombing. No . indignant speeches about ethnic cleansing and the slaughter of innocents. In fact, . in justifying the current bombing of Serbia, Clinton made an indirect reference to . this Croatian campaign when he credited the ‘courageous people in Bosnia and in . Croatia’ who ‘fought back’ against the Serbs and ‘helped to end the war.’ . Indeed, they did. Croatia’s savage ethnic cleansing so demoralized the Serbs that . they soon agreed to sign the Dayton peace accord of 1995." . . no comments on this too ?

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"Operation Storm" was not the only incident of Croatian criminal brutality for . which President Mesic evidently see no reason to make amends. In 1993, . Canada’s Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry unit attempted to enter a . town where they could hear the Serbian civilian population being massacred. . Croatian troops attacked the Canadians and engaged them in some of Canada’s . worst battles since the Korean war. The battle came to be known as the Battle of . the Medak Pocket. The Ottawa Citizen wrote: "Almost five years after it . happened, a House of Commons committee has heard details of Canada’s finest . hour during its peacekeeping mission to the former Yugoslavia." From the . Calgary Herald: "Sgt. Rod Dearing couldn’t see the Croatian soldiers who were . trying to kill him but he could hear the rattle of their AK-47s and see their bullets . kick up earth just centimeters away. The Croats wanted to delay the Canadians . to enable their ethnic cleansing units to finish their killing and looting [of Serbs]. . A Croatian general stood in the middle of the road, glaring and yelling at the . Patricians [Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry]. The soldiers came on the . remains of two teenagers who had been held captive by the Croats. They had . been shot and set on fire. What was left of their bodies were still smoldering . when the Canadians found them."

[treslavance-14575]

it gets uglier, worse. . . wash of injustice. . dont question it.

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Kostunica Says Ethnic Albanian Rebels Receive Aid From U.S. Lobbies . Dec 19, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Ethnic Albanian separatist rebels in southern Serbia are receiving aid from U.S.-based organizations, . President Vojislav Kostunica claimed in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro. . Albanian terrorists not only have access to their own funds in Kosovo, but also to aid ... from abroad, in secret fashion, from the United States," he . in the interview to be published in the paper's Tuesday edition. . said the aid did not come from the U.S. government, but from what he dubbed "powerful lobbies." . America, you have non-governmental organizations which exert considerable influence, and very strong lobbies working for Kosovo's independence . against the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia," he said. . interview was conducted before Kostunica's upcoming visit to France on Thursday, when he is expected to meet with French President Jacques . Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine. . self-proclaimed Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB) has clashed in recent weeks with Serb police in a demilitarized zone . kilometers (three miles) wide between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia. . rebels want the towns of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac, and the surrounding area, which have a large ethnic Albanian population, to be part of . independent Kosovo, currently under UN administration. . said that NATO was "making real efforts to improve (how easy it was to cross) the administrative border between Kosovo and the rest of . . Secretary General (George) Robertson has given suitable orders," he added. . said he continued to oppose independence for Kosovo. . change in the international borders in this region could bring other changes with it," he said, alluding to nearby Macedonia -- which proclaimed . from Yugoslavia eight years ago -- and Bosnia-Hercegovina. . United Nations Security Council will convene a special session on the crisis in southern Serbia and Kosovo on Tuesday. ((c) 2000 Agence France .

[daniela-3605]

NATO's Empty Victory . Ted Galen Carpenter (Editor) . . review of this book: . for Yugoslavia, Bad for the US, August 31, 2000 . Phillip Corwin, author Dubious Mandate: A Memoir of the UN in Bosnia, Summer . 1995 from New York, NY USA . A real gem of an essay collection: articulate, passionate, and in the deepest sense, boldly patriotic. . From several different angles, the authors of these essays -- eminently qualified scholars, diplomats, . and foreign policy experts -- show why NATO's military aggression against Yugoslavia, under the guise . of humanitarian intervention in Kosovo, was bad, very bad, for America's national interest. Here from the . introduction, is a brief balance sheet on the Clinton-Albright war of aggression: "In the course of . acquiring the dubious role of baby sitter of the Balknas, NATO inflicted enormous suffering on innocent . Serbian and Albanian Kosovar civilians; created serious economic and political prolbmes for neighboring . Balkan countries, stimulated fears through the world that the democratic West had embarked on a new . round of imperialism under a phony banner of humanitarian intervention; further undermined a key . provision of the U.S. Constitution; and badly damaged relations with Russian and China." . One wonders, after reading these essays, why did the so-called "independent" Western press act as . publicist and promoter for US foreign policy? Where were the dissenters? Moroever, these essays . suggest that the real dangers in the Balkans are Albanian nationalism and NATO expansionism. Do we . want American soldiers sacrificed in foreign wars that have no impact on our national interest -- in fact, . undermine out national interest?

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"undermine our national interest?" . any of them _know_ what it is? . . the other day i wanted to say "what would . have me 'DO', then? go to plymouth rock and . yelling?" . the material on this page has been like . under a cold rain. . i attempted to consume a great deal of . material; . have stood under a deluge. . . that... particular...fire.... inside; . not a fire i carry with me. . such backdrop for that sense of being wronged . justice undone...on such a scale. . a sense of blood, and kin, and faith. . can say "you'll never know" . i'll never know. . .

[daniela-3605]

2000-12-19 . NATO FORCES KILL CIVILIANS IN KOSOVO . A serious incident took place on Saturday night in Leposavic, northern Kosovo, between Serb civilians and . Belgian forces from the NATO Kfor peacekeeping force. . The incident was provoked by the imprisonment of a Serb by Kfor forces. The NATO barracks were . surrounded by a furious group of Serb civilians, who have accused NATO of favouring the Albanians and . discriminating against the Serbs. . . the middle of the disturbance, Belgian soldiers in the NATO force . opened fire, killing one civilian (Milan Jokovic, 20 years old) outright and seriously wounding another . (Mladen Obradovic, 19), while a third civilian (Trifun Milenkovic, 42) died of a heart attack. . . in southern Serbia, the Albanian terrorist group UÇPMB continues to launch attacks on Serbian . targets from their strongholds deep within Kosovo. . has proved useless in controlling the Albanians . and the case was taken to the United Nations Organization, which has decided to launch a series of . “debates” on the issue. . . Yugoslav and Serbian authorities have decided to launch a massive operation against these terrorists, . in case the UNO does not manage to react. . from past experience, it would seem better to launch . this operation now, because waiting for the United Nations Organization to perform, when unauthorized to . do so by NATO, is a lost cause. . . situation in the Balkans can be blamed fair and square on NATO. In a gross error of judgement, a very . serious miscalculation of the situation was made when it was decided to enter Kosovo, sovereign territory . of the state of Yugoslavia, freeing the Albanian eagle to fly all over the Balkans, something which 500 years . of history had been trying to prevent. . . incidents of last weekend were certainly not premeditated murder by NATO troops, but rather acts by . frightened young soldiers, out of their element and too deeply involved in conflicts and cultures which have . nothing to do with them. Nobody expects NATO to understand the Balkans, but nobody asked them to . intervene. . . is totally unacceptable is that civilians have to pay the price of death for demonstrating against the . terrorists who are destroying their country and stealing their livelihoods. . Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey . Pravda.Ru . Lisbon . HREF="http://english.pravda.ru/main/2000/12/19/1548.html" TARGET="_top">http://english.pravda.ru/main/2000/12/19/1548.html</A>

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No sanctuary for a mother's grief . . Marta Meric leans down to touch her daughter, Marica, 35, . during her funeral Sunday. The mother blames KLA rebels for . her daughter's slaying. [Times photo: Jamie Francis] . . By SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN . © St. Petersburg Times, published June 29, 1999 . . PEC, Yugoslavia -- For centuries, the Patriarchate of Pec . has been the center of the Serbian Orthodox Church. When . Serbs speak of the importance of Kosovo to their religion, . this serenely beautiful place is foremost in their minds. . Set at the mouth of a deep river gorge, the Patriarchate is a . secluded compound of four churches and a monastery dating . to the 1300s. Within its ancient stone walls, priests and nuns . walk among fragrant roses and hedges trimmed in the shape . of the cross. . The beauty remains. But much of the tranquility is gone. . For the past two weeks, hundreds of terrified Serbs have . sought sanctuary here from angry ethnic Albanians now . returning to Kosovo. From early morning to late at night, . Serbs carrying suitcases and bundles pass through the . massive iron gates, waiting for NATO troops to escort them . out of Kosovo and into the Yugolsav republic of . Montenegro, 30 miles across the mountains. . But Radomir Nikcevic, the archbishop of Montenegro, who . came to help the beleaguered monastery, could not leave . Sunday with the newest members of his flock. Instead, he . had a terrible task. . "It is time," a young priest said at 3 p.m., "to go get the . bodies." . An imposing figure with long gray beard and flowing black . robes, Nikcevic climbed into a Land Rover with three other . men. An Italian NATO jeep led the way; an Italian tank . brought up the rear. They drove through Pec, a city as ruined . as any in Kosovo, and into a village where many Serbs live. . Or used to live. . In a deadly but predictable cycle of vengeance, ethnic . Albanians who were driven from their homes are now looting . and burning the houses of Serbs. Tall columns of smoke rose . along either side of the road as the convoy made its way . through the nearly deserted village. The air, already hot and . hazy, became almost choking as they passed the crackling . pyres of what had been Serbian homes. . The jeep and Land Rover finally turned down a dirt road and . stopped at a white house with red geraniums growing in the . window. A thin, gray-haired man in frayed jeans stood . outside, almost overcome with shock and sorrow. . "No, no, no," he moaned. A Serb, he had returned from Pec . that morning to find his 46-year-old wife shot at point-blank . range in the head. There apparently had been no witnesses, . but he had little doubt about the killers -- members of the . Kosovo Liberation Army, the Albanian paramilitary group . commonly known as the KLA. . An Italian soldier guarding the house stepped aside, and the . sight behind him was one to turn the stomach. A woman's . arm, covered in blood, extended from under a blanket. The . blood was so thick by the door it was almost impossible to . tell that a white tile floor lay underneath. . The archbishop looked in, crossed himself and began to . chant: "Oh Lord, be merciful to these souls." . The others stepped inside the narrow hallway and, with . considerable effort, wrapped the body in a gray blanket and . covered it in plastic sheeting. Still chanting, Nikcevic picked . up a small rug from the front stoop and laid it over the pool . of blood. Then he too went inside. . Whoever murdered Mileva Vujosevic, the mother of two . grown sons, had also ransacked her house. The archbishop, . lifting his robes around his ankles, waded through piles of . rumpled clothing to retrieve a framed black-and-white . photograph from the bedroom. . It had been taken many, many years ago, and it showed a . smiling, dark-haired young couple, perhaps newlyweds. The . archbishop also grabbed a painting of Christ and a pair of . brown trousers for Branislav Vujosevic -- "He's afraid to . stay here" -- and left as quickly as he had entered. . The body was in the back of the Land Rover, gray socks . sticking out from under the plastic. Vujosevic closed his . garden gate, perhaps the last time he ever would, and got . into the NATO jeep. The convoy started up again, briefly . became lost, then 10 minutes later arrived at a second house . guarded by an Italian armored personnel carrier. A huge, . fire-blackened haystack was still smoldering as Nikcevic . went inside. . "Oh, Lord, be merciful to these souls," he began to chant. . It was another body. Marica Meric, 35 and Serbian, had . been dead since the night before, her throat slit. She was still . lying on the couch where she had been raped as her mother, . bound and gagged, had been forced to watch. . "KLA," the mother told NATO later. . Two of the men from the monastery wrapped the body in a . brown and white blanket as a fourth videotaped the scene. . Although two women had been murdered, it appeared that . no one but the church had any interest in investigating the . deaths of Serbs. . Meanwhile, 30 miles away, dozens of FBI agents from the . United States continued to pore over the site where 20 . Albanians were slain in April. . "The KLA has the protection of NATO," Nikcevic said . angrily. "The Serbian people have no protection from . NATO. This is total ethnic cleansing of Serbians." . The second body was set on top of the first in the Land . Rover, and the convoy headed back to the monastery. . Several men, including a priest in a T-shirt, had almost . finished digging a deep hole in the rocky soil. Both women . would be placed in a single grave. They would be the first lay . people to be buried at the Patriarchate since its establishment . nearly eight centuries before. . "In this situation," said Nikcevic, "it is too dangerous to go to . the cemetery." . Preparations moved quickly. One of the priests used a black . felt-tip pen to write the women's names on plain wooden . crosses. The bodies were wrapped in clean white sheets and . placed side by side on benches. The nuns pulled back the . sheet from the younger woman's face and gently wiped away . the blood. It took two towels to get it all off. They did not . touch the sheet over Mileva Vujosevic, so badly damaged . was her face. . Then the priests and the archbishop donned their magnificent . vestments as Serbs who had taken refugee in the monastery . -- many of them old women -- began to gather on the grass . with candles in hand. Branislav Vujosevic stood alone. The . nuns flanked Marica's mother, who looked much like them in . her black scarf, black shirt and black skirt. . "Why did the terrorists have to kill you?" she cried, wringing . her gnarled hands over her unmarried daughter. "Why did . you have to die so young?" . At precisely 6 p.m., church bells pealed and a full Orthodox . funeral began as the archbishop swung a silver incense . burner over the bodies. There were many prayers and a . sermon. . "Innocent people are being killed by the evil in Kosovo," . Nikcevic said, his voice growing stronger and louder as he . spoke. "The spirit that comes from hell kills Albanians and . Serbians. I pray to God these will be the last victims, that . innocent blood will be like grain from which peace and . understanding will grow. From the suffering there will come . new life and resurrection." . Nikcevic touched the gold Orthodox cross to each woman's . head and kissed the sheeted bodies. So, too, did the nuns . and all those gathered. When it came Branislav Vujosevic's . turn, he knelt and hugged his wife as though he could not . bear to let her go. . The women were buried in the order they were found, the . one who had been shot under the one who had been raped . and stabbed. . Outside the monastery, their killers were free, perhaps . forever. Within the high stone walls, the other Serbs were . safe. . At least for now. The KLA has threatened to burn this holy . place, too. . . HREF="http://www.sptimes.com/News/62999/Worldandnation/No_sanctuary_for_a_mo.shtml" TARGET="_top">http://www.sptimes.com/News/62999/Worldandnation/No_sanctuary_for_a_mo.shtml</A>

[daniela-3605]

Srebrenica . The following will be quotations of David Rohde from his book "End Game: The Betrayal and Fall of . Srebrenica, Europe's Worst Massacre Since World War II" (Westview Press, 1998). . First of all, we do not agree with his assessment of the situation in Srebrenica, we believe that his title is . nothing more than diatribe that does injustice to the truth. Yet, because we disagree so strongly with him . we have decided to quote him in order to show just how much the "other side" was reporting the situation . more justly than say the US State Department for example: . In the Preface, on page X, Rohde goes on to give his conclusions and the evolution of his understanding . of the situation, notably, we think these two tidbits are intersting: . " At that time [Dayton peace talks - Nov. 1995], I believed Srebrenica's fall to be a simple tale of victim . and perpetrator. But the town's fall has proven far more complex, convoluted and darker than I expected. . " . " The truth in the former Yugoslavia […] is a nebulous concept. Exaggeration and manipulation of the . facts are well-accepted tools for survival and propaganda is the norm. All sides in the brutal war - . including many Western and UN officials - have resolutely convinced themselves that they are blameless . and the other side is guilty. " . Someone from our perspective could not agree more, this is precisely what the Serbian side has been . trying to voice all along, yet no one dared believe them… . -------------------- . On page 215: . " Serbs estimated that 2,000 Serbs - mostly soldiers but also several hundred civilians 35 - had died . around Srebrenica since the outbreak of the war. [since 1992] " . In the corresponding footnote (35) on p. 419: . " A list of those killed produced by General Milenko Zivanovic in a November 1996 interview with Stacy . Sullivan of Newsweek magazine appeared to contain the names of mostly young men who were . apparently soldiers. As of June 1998, the interview had not been published. " . A smart investigator would ask, why wasn't that interview ever published? That list never mentionned? . That figure never given by the US State Department when it made frequent references to Srebrenica? . ---------------- . . p. X . " Survivors and people from Srebrenica exaggerated, openly lied or presented a sanitized version of their . actions and decision making. " . p. XI . " I apologize for any inaccuracies, distortions or omissions. I have tried to make this as accurate as . possible. All errors in judgment are mine. . This book should be considered only and initial account of the fall of Srebrenica, not the final word. " . p. XV . " Oric then led Muslim forces from Srebrenica to a series of stunning victories in 1992, which more than . doubled the size of the island of Muslim territory. By January 1993 the enclave was only five miles from . linking with Muslim-held central Bosnia. " . " By mid-March 1993, over 60,000 Muslim civilians packed the town of Srebrenica and a small area . around it. " . Now, if 7,079 of Srebrenica's Muslims are alleged to be missing, that would mean, that the Serbian side . provided safe passage to 53,000. That is certainly a courtesy never extended to the hundreds of . thousands of Serbian refugees that fled before the Muslim or Croat armies… . " The Serbs allowed a few food convoys into the enclave […] " . p. XVI . " Two years later, a Serb flag flew where the UN's once did and 7,079 Muslim men were missing. " . p. 4 . " Observation Post Foxtrot had been nicknamed "OP Holiday", "OP Sun Beach" and "OP Relax", because . so little happened there. Klaver [a Dutch UN peacekeeper who gave a testimony to Rohde] and the five . other peacekeepers had spent much of their time sunbathing. This was the first time Foxtrot had been . shelled since their battalion arrived five months earlier. " . This sends us the message that . p. 5 . " Muslim soldiers had grudgingly turned over this and a half dozen other strategic hills to the UN when . Srebrenica became a safe area. " . " For Klaver, the safe area was a humiliating joke. The Muslims refused to be disarmed and carried out . raids into Serb territory at night. Both sides occasionally sniped at the Dutch and each other. " . p. 6 . " After the first half hour of shelling, it started to become predictable. […] It was clear that the Bosnian . Serbs were not targeting the observation post. They were pulverizing the network of World War I-era . trenches the Muslims had built behind the OP and on the small hills that flanked it. Klaver could hear . Muslims intermittently firing AK-47 assault rifles and mortars at the Bosnian Serbs from their trenches. " . " […] Klaver saw that three tanks, two howitzer artillery pieces and a multiple rocket launcher had taken . up position 1,600 yards east of the observation post. " . p. 7 . " Mevludin was impressed by the thounderous sound of the rockets launching, buzzing through the air . and then detonating. It was the first time the Serbs had fired them into Srebrenica since it was designated . a safe area. " . " Mevludin had heard that Naser [Oric] and fiften of Srebrenica's best officers slipped out of town under . cover of darkness and trekked ten miles south to Zepa […] From there, they had been ferried by . helicopter to Muslim-held central Bosniain April. […] But only two of the fifteen, the deputy commander . and one brigade commander, had returned. " . p. 10 . " Klaver anxiously watched the three Serb tanks on the hill 1,500 yards away. The two T-54 battle tanks - . modern by Bosnian standars [outdated by Yugoslav standards] - appeared not to be firing at the OP. . That job was left to what looked like a World War II-ear Soviet -made T-34, which was so primitive that it . had to come to a complete stop before it could fire a shell. " . p. 12 . " The most powerful weapon at OP Foxtrot, a highly accurate American-made TOW antitank missile, was . already useless. It was sitting on the roof. " . p. 12-13 . " […] the Dutch peacekeepers who first arrived in Srebrenica in January 1994 had mounted the missile on . the roof of Foxtrot's watchtower. From there, its telescopic night vision sight could see the farthest. The . sight enabled them to track Serb troops movements or Muslim raiding parties. " . p.13 . " The Serbs had allowed only [!!!] six TOW launchers into the enclave when the Dutch first entered in . 1994. " . " The OP also had two Dragon antitank missiles. " . -------------- . Zoran Radic, a Srebrenica Serb. . p. 14-15 . " Radic had been stunned when fighting broke out in April 1992. Like so many other people in Bosnia, he . had joked with his Muslim and Croat friends as Yugoslavia disintegrated and believed that war would . never come. . […] . Before the war, Radic had always felt that he and his family were discriminated against by the Muslim . majority [of 73 % Muslims versus 25 % of Serbs in the Srebrenica commune, in the city ?] in Srebrenica. . His father worked as a miner for twenty-five years, but never received a company-owned apartment. . Muslims who worked for only five to ten years as miners got them instead. Radic had been unable to find . work in town after he graduated from high school, he felt, because he was a Serb. " . p. 14 . " Entitled the Bloody Hands of Islam, it described atrocities carried out around Srebrenica by Muslim and . Croat fascists allied with Hitler during World War II. […] The book had been banned by Tito's government. . Forty Serbs had been executed in Zalazje, a village just outside Srebrenica. […] Roughly fifty years later, . on July 12, 1992 - the Serb Orthodox holiday of St. Peter's Day - Naser Oric's men killed 120 people in . the same town. " . " Srebrenica's Muslims and Naser Oric had played the United Nations beautifully in 1993. […] The safe . area was a joke. For two years, the UN had fed the Muslims, sold them weapons and done nothing as . Naser Oric launched raids from a town that was supposed to be "demilitarized." […] Serb villagers within . thirty miles of Srebrenica lived in constant fear, waiting to hear the voices in the night and then constant . smell smoke. Dozens of civilians had been burned alive in their homes by Oric's men. They had burned . Radic's village, Obadi, to the ground in June 1992. " . " Bratunac had the second highest casualty rate of any Serb-held community in Bosnia. Roughly 3,000 . Serb soldiers and civilians had been killed around Srebrenica. Oric's men killed every prisoner they took . so there would be no witnesses, it was rumored. Serb bodies had also been reportedly found with heads . and ears cut off. Prisoners were allegedly skinned alive. " . " He [Zoran Radic] never thought he'd set foot in his hometown again, but if Srebrenica did ever fall, . Radic was sure of one thing: the Serbs would treat civilian and prisoners far more humanely than Naser . Oric did. " . --------------

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joyeux noel, mademoiselle . quickest trace of peace here.

[d-3520]

<A HREF="http://www.serbianorthodoxchurch.net/calendar/january2001.html" TARGET="_top">http://www.serbianorthodoxchurch.net/calendar/january2001.html</A>

[treslavance-14575]

[w/g] . . had lately been to just that page via SHERLOCK! . a few things; sat through a selection of . music at one link... . did know the date was different, but i wasnt . when. i was trying to find out. . see? .

[d-3520]

France reveals that 'Balkan syndrome' is . affecting soldiers . By Stephen Castle in Brussels . 5 January 2001 . The European Union promised to take action over Nato's use . of depleted-uranium munitions in the Balkans yesterday, as . Paris revealed that four French soldiers who served in the . region were being treated for leukaemia. . Depleted-uranium munitions should be banned even if there . was "minimal risk", said Romano Prodi, the European . Commission president, amid mounting international pressure . on Nato to investigate the "Balkan Syndrome". . Sweden, which holds the EU presidency, backed calls for a . new medical working group on the subject and promised a . discussion on the issue on 9 January. Bjorn von Sydow, the . Swedish Defence Minister, said: "It is important that we act." . In Paris, Alain Richard, the Defence Minister, has asked for . tests to determine whether the soldiers were exposed to . anything that might have caused the illness. He backed calls . for the alliance to discuss the issue next week. . Mr Prodi intervened after concern grew in Italy, where there . have been 30 cases of serious illness involving soldiers who . served in Bosnia and Kosovo, 12 of whom developed cancer. . Six of the Italian servicemen are said to have died of . leukaemia. . Mr Prodi said in a radio interview that he wanted "the truth to . be ascertained, not only concerning the soldiers, but also for . the people who lived near them, the population". . He said: "It is clear that if there is even a minimal risk, these . arms must be abolished. And even if this risk was not there, I . don't like the idea of using these particular weapons." Mr Prodi . proposed "immediate contacts with the governments of . Bosnia and Serbia to discuss pollution and the problems . linked to depleted uranium". . Although the EU's jurisdiction is limited, it may have powers in . environmental or health and safety areas under which it can . act, particularly if some of the ammunition was made in the . EU. . Greece said yesterday that it would screen more than 1,000 of . its soldiers stationed in Kosovo for side-effects from exposure . to depleted uranium ammunition. . So far, Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Finland have said they will . screen their Kosovo veterans, and Bulgaria is also to monitor . the health of its small detachment in the province. In Britain, . the Ministry of Defence said it would monitor developments . closely. The Pentagon said it was aware of the worries being . raised by some of America's allies. . Nato insists there is no evidence of a link between the . munitions and cancer. Its spokesman, Mark Laity, said: "The . Italians have, very properly and in response to public concern, . launched a public inquiry, and Nato is assisting them in every . way it can." . Nato has pledged to help with a request from Italy for more . information on the use of depleted uranium. . There is also growing support for calls by Italy for a new . mechanism to exchange scientific and medical information, . and possible health issues, among the 19 Nato member . countries. The Italians will press for such a mechanism at a . political committee and at an informal meeting of Nato . ambassadors on Tuesday. . . HREF="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Europe/2001-01/france050101.shtml" TARGET="_top">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Europe/2001-01/france050101.shtml</A>

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SFOR's Spokesman Bob Tomson could not confirm news broadcasted . by Radio "Deutche Welle" that 400 Serbs from BiH and several NATO soldiers died of leukemia . caused by usage of weapons with uranium.

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<A HREF="http://www.deltax.net/bissett/" TARGET="_top">http://www.deltax.net/bissett/</A> . . James Bissett was Canada's ambassador to Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and . Albania. He is widely recognized as one of the foremost authorities on . Balkan politics. . -more-