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."