Bombing Waterways is a War Crime

Elias.Karagiannis at spg.org Elias.Karagiannis at spg.org
Mon Jul 19 21:16:57 PDT 1999


Just another article from the BBC on the environmental catastrophe caused by the neo-nazis and their liberal supporters. Rumor has it that when Clinton was told about the polluted water and the dangers it poses, he responded: "why can't they drink Elvian or Perrier?"

elias

World

Kosovo waterways bombing

a 'war crime'

Burning oil, polluted water: The Balkans will take a long time to

recover

By News Online's Alex Kirby

A senior South African Government minister, Professor

Kader Asmal, says Nato's bomb damage to water

resources in the Balkan war was a crime under

international law.

Professor Asmal was appointed

Minister of Education in June. He

had been Minister of Water Affairs

and Forestry since 1994.

He was speaking in London, at a

symposium on the conflicts

provoked by large dams between the

needs of development, human rights and environmental

protection.

The meeting was organised by the World Commission

on Dams (WCD), the Reuters Foundation, and the World

Conservation Union.

Professor Asmal, who chaired the symposium and is a

lawyer, told a questioner: "The recent bombing of water

resources in Europe is very regrettable. It is a war

crime".

He did not name Nato specifically, but left no doubt that

he had the alliance in mind.

Professor Asmal told BBC

News Online: "The Geneva

Protocols prohibit attacks on

water resources.

"Reservoirs, dams, sewage

systems and related

resources should never be

used like this.

"Part of the reason is

because of the risk of

escalation in the next

conflict."

He added that since the Kosovo campaign, Israel has

attacked water resources in Lebanon for the first time in

years.

Protecting civilians

Professor Asmal was exiled from South Africa during the

apartheid era, and for 27 years was a professor of law at

Trinity College, Dublin.

The Geneva Protocols, adopted in 1977, are designed to

strengthen the 1949 Conventions on the conduct of

warfare.

They say combatants must

not "attack, destroy or render

useless objects

indispensable to the survival

of the civilian population,

such as foodstuffs, crops,

livestock, drinking water

installations and supplies".

They also prohibit attacks on

dams and dykes if they

would result in a threat to

civilians.

A report on the environmental impact of the Balkan war

was published in June by the Regional Environment

Center, a group based in Hungary and part-funded by the

European Commission.

It says: "Negative health impacts are expected from

damaged infrastructure (water and sewage systems) in

Yugoslavia.

"The slow reconstruction of infrastructure (particularly

sewers and water treatment) represents a further risk to

health."



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