BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium called on Friday for European Union defense ministers to discuss health problems suffered by peacekeepers in the former Yugoslavia, dubbed the ``Balkans Syndrome.´´ The call by Belgian Defense Minister Andre Flahaut came amid rising concern in Europe over mysterious illnesses among veterans of Balkan peacekeeping missions.

Press reports have suggested some of the illnesses could be linked to depleted uranium shells used by NATO during its 1999 campaign to oust Serb forces from Kosovo.

Flahaut wrote to Bjorn von Sydow, the defense minister of Sweden, which takes over the EU presidency on Monday, suggesting that the peacekeepers' health problems should be analyzed and debated for the first time at the EU level, the Belgian defense ministry said in a statement.

The so-called ``Balkan syndrome´´ was an issue for several European countries which had taken part in various Balkan peacekeeping missions since 1992, it said.

These countries could speed up their research by sharing medical data. A European-level meeting would also allow them to decide on joint action, it said. Belgian defense ministry spokesman Gerard Harveng said Flahaut was calling for a special meeting of ministers of defense to analyze the problem.

In Lisbon, the Diario de Noticias newspaper reported on Friday that Portugal had ordered medical tests for its soldiers serving in Kosovo to check for radiation from depleted uranium ammunition used in the NATO campaign.

Health Concerns

Concerns over possible health effects of depleted uranium shells in Kosovo have also been raised by service members or civilian aid workers in Britain, the Netherlands and Italy.

U.S. attack jets fired some 31,000 rounds of depleted uranium ammunition -- used to pierce armor -- against Serbian tanks and armored cars during the Kosovo campaign, according to a United Nations expert. The Pentagon said in March that the remains of the heavy metal shells did not present a significant health hazard.

Harveng said Belgium had taken several steps to address concerns about the alleged ``Balkan Syndrome´´ after nine peacekeepers who had been in Bosnia and other parts of the former Yugoslavia fell ill with cancer. Five subsequently died, according to Belgian press reports.

Other soldiers who had been on Balkan peacekeeping missions during the 1990s reported a variety of unexplained ailments, including headaches and insomnia, Harveng said.

But he maintained that the nine cancer cases -- as a proportion of the 12,000 Belgian troops who had participated in Balkan peacekeeping missions -- was similar to the normal incidence of cancer among civilians.

In July 1999, the Belgian defense ministry ordered medical tests on soldiers who went on peacekeeping missions in Kosovo, Harveng said. These tests were now routinely carried out on peacekeepers before, during and after their mission, he said.

He said Belgian peacekeepers were in an area of Kosovo where depleted uranium munitions had not been used. The defense ministry has also sent a questionnaire to all 12,000 Belgian troops who served in Balkan peacekeeping missions, Harveng said. It had so far received more than 8,000 replies which were being analyzed.

``Until now, we haven´t been able to make a link between the mission and the health problems of these persons,´´ he said.

Various causes have been advanced for the mysterious Gulf War Syndrome which afflicted thousands of U.S. and British veterans who took part in the 1991 conflict against Iraq.