After the Bombs, Eco-disaster and Hunger

by Vesna Peric-Zimonjic

Important rivers, lakes and agricultural land are now contaminated with chemicals and depleted uranium, while the country's fertilizer plants have been destroyed at the height of the seeding season. The result, experts say, might be widespread hunger.

According to NATO spokesmen, however, the destruction of refineries and chemical industries is aimed only at crippling Belgrade's ability to wage war against ethnic Albanians in the Serbian province of Kosovo, some 374 km from the capital.

For days last week, huge black clouds were hanging over the Yugoslav capital, coming from the industrial town of Pancevo, 20 km to the northeast, where a huge oil refinery, petrochemical complex and fertilizer factory had been hit by NATO air strikes.

For two days, residents of both Pancevo and Belgrade were counselled to use watered handkerchiefs or towels over their faces in case they had burning eyes or sore throat when they came out in the street.

Luckily, people thought, the wind quickly swept the clouds and the rain washed residues away.

But Yugoslav Development, Science and Environment Minister Jagos Zelenovic told journalists that the damage coming from Pancevo's industrial complex was far from over, causing a cross-border environmental hazard.

"The spreading of harmful, dangerous, inflammable and explosive materials used in this complex has polluted the atmosphere, ground water, rivers, lakes and water supply of the wider region," Zelenovic said.

"The effects of this pollution not only go across borders, but these are long-term substances and carcinogens," he said.

Local civil defense authorities in Pancevo evacuated two residential districts after Apr. 18 -- the fiercest NATO attack so far -- that led to the release of chlorine, hydrochloric acid and even phosgene into the atmosphere, when petrochemical facilities and a fertilizer factory were destroyed.

Residents of two small neighborhoods close to the complexes had to be taken by buses to nearby schools and a sports center, where they remain until now.

Dragoljub Bjelovic, of the Serbian Ministry of Ecology, told journalists that "an ecological catastrophe" could hit the entire Balkan region.

"The whole region is in danger, specially after the fertilizer factory was hit, as highly toxic substances went into the air but also, with rain, into the ground" he said.

"All rivers and underwater streams in this part of Serbia and the Balkan region are connected, so the toxins can spread into quite a big zone," he added.

According to Bjelovic, a 20 km-long oil spill from the Pancevo refinery is travelling down the Danube river, towards the two huge Djerdap dams and hydroelectric plants on the Yugoslav-Romanian border.

Both dams were built decades ago by Yugoslavia and Romania, as the Danube marks the border between the two countries in that zone.

From Romania on, the Danube goes through Bulgaria and into the Black Sea.

"Everything that goes into Danube now, will saturate the Black Sea in a short while," Bjelovic said.

Miralem Dzindo, general manager of the "Azotara" fertilizer plant in Pancevo, told journalists that besides the threat of bombs and ecological disaster, there is an additional hazard Serbs have to worry about.

"There is no way to produce necessary fertilizers now, as all facilities were burned to ground on Apr. 18," he said. "The seeding of land is in full swing this time of year and we won't be able to deliver the necessary substances for our fields...the rockets that hit the plant also hit the land and we might face hunger as a result."

Evacuation of residents is also being considered by civil defence authorities in the town of Obrenovac, 20 km southwest from Belgrade, where a huge chemical complex is located in the neighborhood of Baric.

It is no secret that the Baric complex produces hydrochloric acid for civilian use and even the more dangerous and extremely toxic hydrofluoric acid, used as a component for different household detergents.

Baric is situated on the Sava river, which meets the Danube in Belgrade.

"If we let all these chemicals into the river -- to prevent them from evaporating into the atmosphere in case Baric was hit by NATO -- that would be a real catastrophe," a plant official told IPS.

"Under normal circumstances, it would take three months to properly shut down the factory, with all necessary precautionary measures. If we're hit now, God knows what could happen," he added.

The threat is not mere speculation: a small office building at the Baric complex was already hit twice in NATO air raids on Apr. 18.

Reports about NATO using depleted uranium (DU) weapons have also been printed by the Serbian press, based on a document issued by the New York-based International Action Center (IAC).

IAC -- founded by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark -- said that U.S. A-10 "Warthog" jets, introduced recently into NATO attacks, carry anti-tank weapons "that could present a danger to the people and environment of the entire Balkans."

According to IAC, "the A-10s were the anti-tank weapon of choice in the 1991 war against Iraq. It carries a GAU-8/A Avenger 30 millimeter seven-barrel cannon capable of firing 4,200 rounds per minute. During that war it fired 30 mm rounds reinforced with DU, a radioactive weapon."

"There is solid scientific evidence that the DU residue left in Iraq is responsible for a large increase in stillbirths, children born with defects, and childhood leukemia and other cancers in the area of southern Iraq near Basra, where most of these shells were fired," the group said.

Many U.S. veterans groups also say that DU residues contributed to the condition called "Gulf War Syndrome" that has affected close to 100,000 service people in the U.S. and Britain with chronic sickness" IAC added.

John Catalinotto, a spokesman for IAC's depleted Uranium Education Project, said the use of DU weapons in Yugoslavia "adds a new dimension to the crime NATO is perpetrating against the Yugoslav people -- including those in Kosovo."

"DU is used in alloy form in shells to make them penetrate targets better. As the shell hits its target, it burns and releases uranium oxide into the air. The poisonous and radioactive uranium is most dangerous when inhaled into the body, where it will release radiation during the entire life of the person who inhaled it," Catalinotto said.