Experts Warn of Ecological Disaster in Yugoslavia

BELGRADE, Aug 14 (AFP) - Yugoslavia could be threatened by an ecological catastrophe if urgent measures are not taken to alleviate the consequences of NATO bombings, independent news agency Beta on Saturday cited the humanitarian organisation Focus as saying.

An expert group from Focus, an association of representatives from four countries (Austria, Greece, Russia and Switzerland), visited Yugoslavia from July 19 to August 12, Beta said. The experts made "detailed chemical and radiological analyses of the sites which had suffered most damage" by NATO bombs, according to a preliminary report quoted by Beta.

In particular, they visited chemical factory sites, refineries and reservoirs hit by NATO airplanes in Belgrade, Pancevo, Novi Sad, Vranje, Kragujevac, Nis, Bor, Smederevo and Pristina.

"On the basis of results of these analyses, the group of experts concluded that the release of extremely toxic and cancerous substances has led to a very serious ecological threat on the territory of Yugoslavia," the report said.

The Focus experts recommend "the renewal of activities of international organisations, in particular a humanitarian mission, in order to avoid a potential ecological catastrophe in Yugoslavia."

Focus was the second organisation to study the ecological consequences of 11 weeks of NATO bombings against Yugoslavia. Following a mission to Yugoslavia in July, a United Nations expert team said that, according to the first results, there was no large-scale ecological threat to the country.

However, it had found evidence of "dangerous" pollution on several industrial sites bombed by NATO planes, according to the mission chief, Pekka Haavisto from Finland.