Friday, 26 January, 2001 - http://www.unfoundation.org

Today's UN WIRE Stories

ENVIRONMENT
DEPLETED URANIUM: UN Agencies Pledge Cooperative Effort

Two UN agencies have agreed to work together in response to requests for fact-finding missions regarding the health impacts of depleted uranium used during military campaigns in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq and Yugoslavia.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei and UN Environment Program Executive Director Klaus Toepfer announced the agreement yesterday and said they would coordinate efforts with the World Health Organization and other UN bodies. Pekka Haavisto, chair of the UNEP's Depleted Uranium Assessment Team, met yesterday with UN officials in Sarajevo on a possible future mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Haavisto is also scheduled to visit Belgrade today (UN Newservice, 25 Jan).

UNEP spokesperson Douglas Coffman said, "We do expect to conduct the work," but added that work would not begin for several months. Another spokesperson in Geneva said the work cannot proceed during the winter, "so it couldn't be before May" (Reuters/ABCNews.com, 25 Jan).

UNEP experts last year collected samples from areas hit by depleted uranium weapons in Kosovo, but the agency said yesterday it will not embark on any new assessments until the Kosovo findings are released in March (UN Newservice).

BBC Online reported yesterday, however, that UNEP experts were scheduled to arrive in Sarajevo yesterday to begin preliminary tests to determine the levels of depleted uranium left behind after 1994 and 1995 NATO air strikes (UN Wire, 25 Jan). (Back to Contents)