BRUXELLES - les forces multinationales de paix en Bosnie (SFOR) et au Kosovo (KFOR) seront associées à ce comité spécial. George Robertson a qualifié de "légitimes" les demandes des gouvernements qui réclament plus d'informations et s'est dit "confiant" dans le "peu de risques" représenté par les munitions utilisées par les militaires américains en Bosnie en 1995 et au Kosovo en 1999. "Je n'aurais pas été d'accord sur l'utilisation de ces munitions quand j'étais ministre (britannique de la Défense) si nous avions su qu'elles pouvaient entraîner un quelconque risque pour la santé", a-t-il affirmé.

Concernant le manque de collaboration de l'OTAN dont s'est plaint le chef des experts de l'ONU, Pekka Haavisto, M. Robertson a parlé d'un "délai bureaucratique que nous regrettons tous". Il a confirmé que le conseil permanent de l'OTAN (ambassadeurs) a décidé mercredi, à la demande de l'Italie, de fournir les cartes des sites visés en Bosnie par ces munitions.

Le conseil a également décidé que tous les rapports nationaux sur les conséquences, en matière de santé, de l'usage des munitions à l'uranium appauvri soient collectés et échangés au sein de l'OTAN. Les pays alliés ont en outre proposé l'assistance de l'organisation au Programme des Nations-Unies pour l'environnement (PNUE) si celui-ci envoie une équipe d'experts en Bosnie pour enquêter sur l'uranium appauvri, comme il vient de le faire au Kosovo. Le rapport définitif du PNUE sur le Kosovo doit être publié en mars.

Alors que le « syndrome des Balkans » provoque une inquiétude croissante de l'opinion en Europe, le conseil de l'Atlantique-Nord, instance suprême de l'OTAN, qui se réunissait, mercredi 10 janvier à Bruxelles, devait rejeter l'idée d'un moratoire sur l'utilisation des munitions à uranium appauvri (UA) proposée par l'Italie.

Telle est la position que lui a recommandé de prendre, la veille, son comité politique, un organe consultatif. L'expert italien du comité politique de l'OTAN a réclamé un moratoire sur l'emploi de ces armes dans l'attente d'une évaluation commune des risques dus à leur usage dans les Balkans.

La plupart des délégations permanentes (dont la France) n'ont répondu ni oui ni non, au motif que cette proposition, formulée de manière improvisée, n'avait pas été discutée par leurs autorités nationales respectives et qu'elle n'avait donc pas fait l'objet d'instructions.

Les représentants de la Grande-Bretagne et des Etats-Unis l'ont, pour leur part, vivement critiquée. Ils ont répété qu'aucun lien n'avait été établi entre le « syndrome des Balkans » et l'utilisation d'armes UA (à l'uranium appauvri). Ils ont affirmé qu'accepter un moratoire reviendrait à reconnaître l'existence d'un telle relation. Lors d'un déjeuner qui a suivi, une majorité d'ambassadeurs ont fait valoir que la question du moratoire ne se posait pas dans la mesure où ces munitions ne sont pas utilisées actuellement.

Un seul point a fait l'objet d'un consensus : l'échange, au sein de l'OTAN , de rapports nationaux existants, sur les effets éventuels de ces matériels. Les sources diplomatiques ne précisaient pas si le Royaume-Uni et les Etats-Unis étaient d'accord pour engager de nouvelles études.

La Commission européenne a, pour sa part, demandé à des experts d'enquêter sur les conséquences, en termes de santé et d'environnement, de l'utilisation de telles armes dans les Balkans. Ce groupe d'experts, indépendants des Etats-membres et spécialistes en radiations, devrait rendre ses conclusions début février. Le porte-parole de Chris Patten, commissaire européen aux relations extérieures, a évalué à « des centaines, voire des milliers » le nombre de personnes ayant, depuis une décennie, travaillé dans la région, pour le compte de la Commission. Le Danemark, la Grande-Bretagne et l'Allemagne ont décidé de proposer des examens médicaux à des personnels qui auraient servi dans les Balkans.

Les ambassadeurs du Comité politique et de sécurité (COPS) de l'Union européenne (UE), le nouvel organe chargé de préparer des décisions en matière de défense, ont eux aussi examiné le dossier à la demande de la Belgique. Ils ont estimé qu'il relevait, pour l'essentiel, de l'OTAN.

De son côté, en France, le président de la commission de la défense à l'Assemblée nationale, Paul Quilès (PS, Tarn), a jugé que cette affaire illustrait « un des problèmes essentiels du fonctionnement de l'OTAN », à savoir que « les Américains, dans le cadre de l'Alliance atlantique, restent enclins à prendre des décisions de façon unilatérale, sans en informer leurs partenaires, même après-coup ». « Les Etats-Unis n'ont pas correctement informé leurs alliés », a-t-il ajouté.

Pour M. Quilès, l'emploi de l'uranium appauvri ne pose pas seulement un problème pour les soldats. Il s'agit de savoir, a-t-il déclaré à propos des pathologies dont souffrent les militaires engagés dans le Golfe et les Balkans, « si on met en danger des populations civiles, notamment après la guerre ».

A Paris, le médecin général Jean-Yves Tréguier a déclaré, devant la mission parlementaire sur le syndrôme du Golfe étendue désormais à celui des Balkans et présidée par M. Quilès, que « les soldats qui le souhaitent seront soumis aux analyses permettant d'identifier s'ils sont porteurs d'isotopes radioactifs », uranium 236 et 238.

Cette décision devrait soulever un certain nombre de difficultés pratiques, compte-tenu du caratère relativement complexe et coûteux des examens à mettre en œuvre, ainsi que du faible nombre des laboratoires spécialisés dans ce domaine. Dans l'attente d'une harmonisation des procédures européennes, ces examens, pratiqués sur des échantillons d'urine, ne seront sans doute effectués que chez des militaires dont l'examen clinique et le résultat de dosages biologiques (numération et formule sanguine) donneraient des indications sur l'existence possible d'un processus leucémique.

Des obus à l'uranium appauvri sont régulièrement tirés en France, dans le cadre de deux centres d'essais de la Délégation générale pour l'armement (DGA), à Bourges (Cher) et à Gramat (Lot). Ces munitions sont aujourd'hui suspectées d'être à l'origine du «syndrome des Balkans», ces leucémies dont souffrent d'anciens militaires. Depuis 1987, plus de 2 100 obus de calibre 105 et 120 millimètres ont ainsi été testés. Selon toute vraisemblance, ces armes n'ont jamais été utilisées par la France dans le cadre d'un conflit.

Enceinte confinée. Comme le révélait Libération du 15 juin 2000, le centre d'essais de Gramat (CEG) abrite le «site de tir uranium» où sont mesurés les effets de l'impact de ses obus contre des blindages. L'hiver dernier, cet établissement très secret avait été sous les feux de l'actualité, lorsqu'une équipe de spéléologues s'y est retrouvée coincée dans un grotte pendant plusieurs jours. Au pied de grandes falaises de calcaire, une tranchée de deux cents mètres aboutit à une énorme sphère de béton blanc.

Une ou deux fois par an, une dizaine d'obus sont tirés dans cette enceinte confinée. L'air est soigneusement filtré afin de bloquer toutes les particules d'une taille supérieure à 0,1 micron. La radioactivité est sans cesse contrôlée et les rares personnels soumis à une surveillance particulière. C'est dire si la DGA prend au sérieux les risques de contamination chimique et radioactive, ceux-là même que le ministère de la Défense s'ingénie à minimiser.

Tests en plein air. Le polygone de tir de l'ETBS (Etablissement technique de Bourges) s'étend sur une trentaine de kilomètres à proximité de la capitale berrichonne. C'est le second lieu d'essais des obus à l'uranium appauvri. En dix ans, environ 1 400 tirs y ont eu lieu, soit deux fois plus qu'à Gramat (750). Il s'agit essentiellement d'étudier leur balistique et les munitions finissent leur trajectoire dans du sable. Là encore, les tests qui se déroulent en plein air sont entourés de nombreuses précautions, explique-t-on à la DGA.

En revanche, l'armée affirme n'avoir jamais essayé ces munitions. «Nous n'en avons jamais tiré à l'exercice ou à l'entraînement», assure le lieutenant-colonel Martin Klotz, en charge des obus à l'uranium appauvri à l'état-major de l'armée de terre. «Pour former les équipages de char, nous utilisons des simulateurs.» L'armée de terre possède un petit stock d'obus de 105 mm, répertoriés sous le sigle barbare d'APFSDS-T OFL 105 E2. Ils sont entreposés à Brienne-le-Château (Aube). En revanche, l'armée de terre ne dispose pas de telles munitions pour son nouveau char Leclerc, contrairement à ce qui a été longtemps affirmé. L'obus de 120 mm est techniquement prêt, mais la décision de le produire n'a pas encore été prise.

Ces obus sont fabriqués par Giat-Industries, dans son établissement de La Chapelle-Saint-Ursin (Cher), à partir de «flèches» en uranium appauvri usinées par la Société industrielle du combustible nucléaire (SICN, groupe Cogema) à Annecy.

La polémique sur l'uranium appauvri (UA) horripile Alain Richard. «Dans trois jours, on n'en parlera plus», confiait, hier, le ministre de la Défense durant ses «vœux à la presse», avant de s'en prendre vivement à l'attitude de l'Allemagne et de l'Italie. Ces deux pays, qui ne possèdent pas de munitions à l'UA, mais avec lesquels il est question de construire une défense européenne, demandent un moratoire sur ces armes, que la France refuse.

Plus diplomate, Jacques Chirac a souhaité, durant le Conseil des ministres, que «cette affaire soit traitée dans une totale transparence», a indiqué Catherine Colonna, porte-parole de l'Elysée. «En tant que chef des armées, je reste particulièrement attentif à la protection de la santé de nos militaires», a ajouté le président de la République. Le porte-parole du gouvernement, Jean-Jack Queyranne, a immédiatement fait savoir qu'au cours du Conseil des ministres, le Premier ministre «se plaçait dans le cadre du principe de précaution et du principe de transparence».

A Bruxelles, le secrétaire général de l'Otan, George Robertson, a annoncé hier la mise en place d'un «comité spécial» au sein de l'Alliance atlantique, chargé d'étudier les conséquences éventuelles de l'usage de ces armes sur la santé. L'Otan «n'a rien à cacher», a-t-il ajouté.

Une transparence dont a enfin fait preuve, hier, l'armée américaine, qui a reconnu avoir tiré des munitions à l'UA sur le base de Grafenwoehr, en Bavière (Allemagne). La veille, un porte-parole de l'US Army assurait encore le contraire. En 1987, des obus à l'uranium ont bien été employés une fois, mais «par erreur». Puis, en 1988, un char qui contenait, «par inadvertance», de telles munitions a brûlé.

Enfin, le ministre de la Défense italien Sergio Mattarella a indiqué hier que «30 militaires italiens sont suspectés d'être victimes du syndrome des Balkans, dont 7 sont décédés». 21 d'entre eux ont servi dans les Balkans.

Le dégel des relations entre la Yougoslavie et l'OTAN, dont les bombes se sont abattues sur le pays il y a un peu moins de deux ans, est amorcé. Le nouveau gouvernement démocratique du président Vodjislav Kostunica et les alliés se sont engagés mercredi à coopérer pour combattre la guérilla albanaise active à la frontière entre la Serbie et le Kosovo. Les deux parties échangeront également leurs informations sur les munitions à uranium appauvri utilisées dans les Balkans, l'Alliance atlantique assurant qu'elle n'a rien à cacher.

La reprise du dialogue entre les belligérants d'hier a été officialisée lors d'une visite au siège de l'OTAN à Bruxelles du ministre yougoslave des Affaires étrangères, Goran Svilanovic, la première d'un haut responsable de Belgrade depuis les raids aériens alliés au printemps 1999. Une visite de travail, sans plus. Signe que les plaies mettront du temps à cicatriser: le chef de la diplomatie yougoslave a soigneusement évité de serrer la main du secrétaire général de l'OTAN, George Robertson, face aux photographes qui l'attendaient à sa sortie.

Les deux parties se sont néanmoins engagées à travailler ensemble sur plusieurs sujets d'intérêt commun. Elles sont convenues d'unir leurs efforts pour réduire la tension dans la vallée de Presevo, une région du sud-est de la Serbie limitrophe du Kosovo où la guérilla albanaise a multiplié en décembre les attaques contre les policiers serbes. En vertu d'un accord imposé par l'OTAN en juin 1999 au lendemain de la guerre, aucun soldat serbe ne peut pénétrer dans cette zone dite de sécurité, où seule la police locale est autorisée à patrouiller.

Belgrade réclame la suppression de cette zone tampon qui ferait le jeu des extrémistes albanais. «La zone de sécurité est une question clé», a déclaré Goran Svilanovic, en soulignant qu'elle n'avait plus de raison d'être car l'armée yougoslave «n'est plus une armée ennemie». L'OTAN s'est déclaré prête à en parler. Un responsable affirme que des patrouilles communes entre soldats serbes et de la KFOR pourraient être envisagées à la faveur d'une révision de l'accord de juin 1999.

L'OTAN n'a rien promis dans l'immédiat. Avant toute concession, les alliés exigent que la nouvelle équipe au pouvoir consente à coopérer pleinement avec le Tribunal pénal international (TPI) sur l'ex-Yougoslavie. Son procureur Carla Del Ponte est attendu le 23 janvier à Belgrade. Mais Goran Svilanovic a réaffirmé hier face aux ambassadeurs des 19 pays membres de l'OTAN que c'est en Serbie et non à La Haye que devront être jugés les criminels de guerre dont le TPI réclame l'extradition, l'ancien président Slobodan Milosevic en tête.

US military and medical experts on Wednesday acted to head off a split with Nato partners over the health risks associated with depleted uranium munitions.

The US, the biggest user of the weapons, flew in experts from Washington to brief a meeting of ambassadors at Nato's Brussels headquarters, following a leukaemia scare that has swept across European countries contributing to peacekeeping forces in the Balkans.

Their briefing, detailing the failure of US research since the 1991 Gulf war to establish a link with leukaemia or other health problems, featured the display of a foot-long 30mm depleted uranium round that would be fired by a gatling gun aboard an A-10 Warthog ground attack aircraft. A total of 41,800 were fired during operations in Bosnia in 1994-5 and Kosovo in 1999.

Lord Robertson, Nato secretary-general, said the alliance would co-operate with investigations on the subject. "If there are concerns, they must be addressed," he said.

He urged that notice be taken of statements by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Health Organisation that the munitions were most unlikely to have caused leukaemia deaths.

Some of Nato's 19 members, including Italy and Germany, have called for a suspension of Nato's use of depleted uranium armour-piercing ammunition. The US and Britain are among those opposing such a move. However, no formal proposal was made, and Lord Robertson noted that "we are not currently engaged in hostilities in the Balkans, so munitions of this type are not being used".

Nato officials said governments were anxious to avoid a public split in the alliance and felt a need to provide reassurance in view of the absence of scientific evidence that depleted uranium was making troops unwell. One official said the atmosphere was at times "irritated", but not heated.

Nato said, however, it would provide the UN with information about where depleted uranium weapons had been fired in Bosnia - as it did last year for those fired in Kosovo in 1999. Lord Robertson ascribed the failure to provide the Bosnia information so far to "bureaucratic delay".

After the Pentagon experts had briefed journalists, a Nato spokesman carried the round in his trouser pocket to demonstrate his lack of concern about the metal's radiation.

The scare began when Italy became concerned that several soldiers' deaths from leukaemia could be connected with the use of depleted uranium in Bosnia and Kosovo. Worries quickly spread to other European countries of which several, including the UK, have announced they would screen Balkans personnel for uranium.

Depleted uranium is used in some armour-piercing ammunition because of its exceptional hardness. The Pentagon says it has issued sufficient warnings about potential dangers from the metal's chemical toxicity.

However, the Pentagon insists no link has been found between uranium and diseases suffered by Gulf War veterans.

Nato yesterday launched a massive damage limitation exercise it hopes will defuse growing concern that its use of armour-piercing depleted uranium-tipped shells in Kosovo may be the cause of unexplained cases of cancer among its troops.

In a carefully orchestrated publicity campaign at the alliance's Brussels headquarters, Nato's secretary general, Lord Robertson, told reporters that "no link of any kind" had been discovered between the use of depleted uranium (DU) shells and leukaemia or other illnesses.

"I do not believe the public should have been as excited as it has been. We are confident that there is little risk from DU munitions, but we refuse to be complacent," he said after a meeting of the alliance's top policy making body, the North Atlantic Council.

However he was adamant that even temporarily banning the use of such shells would be a grave mistake. "We must base our analysis on facts and not be swayed by perceptions," he said. "I would not agree to the use of the munitions if I believed there was a hazard."

Italy, Germany and Greece all pushed for a moratorium on the use of DU yesterday, but opposition from Britain and the US meant that the proposal was stillborn. Norway later said it too wanted a ban.

Nato's 19 ambassadors did agree to set up a working party to coordinate information on DU shells, a move which will go some way to assuaging Italy and other states which are pressing for a full inquiry. But the alliance will not conduct its own inquiry, preferring to leave it to organisations such as the UN, which it believes are better equipped for the job.

It has, however, already passed on the location of 112 sites in Kosovo where DU shells were used against Serb armour, and which it suspects may be contaminated. The UN said yesterday that it would consider marking and possibly sealing off these sites, and Nato has pledged to help with a clean-up.

Acutely aware of public anger in countries such as Italy over the perceived dangers of the shells, the alliance yesterday distributed a thick dossier of scientific reports debunking claims that DU was dangerous to health, and wheeled out two US medical experts from the Pentagon who claimed that the metal was practically harmless.

A former BBC defence correspondent, Mark Laity, now a Nato spokesman, also did his best to dampen rising alarm, in front of the biggest turnout of journalists since the Kosovo conflict in 1999.

Seated behind a 30mm DU-tipped shell of the kind fired by American tank-busting A-10 planes, Mr Laity criticised the media for blowing the issue out of all proportion. He said DU also had several civilian applications and was used as ballast in airliners and in the keels of many yachts.

But the concerns refuse to fade and have been fuelled by the death of six Italian Balkan peacekeepers from cancer.

Iraq yesterday demanded an inquiry into the use of DU shells in the 1991 Gulf war, suggesting that its cancer rates have soared in the aftermath.

On April 21 1999, I telephoned the Ministry of Defence and asked its press office whether Nato was using weapons tipped with depleted uranium in Kosovo. "Certainly not," I was told. I phoned Nato on the same day, and was told that these weapons were in fact being deployed. Yesterday the MoD's press officer confirmed to me that his department knew DU was being used at the time. So had the MoD lied to me? "You shouldn't read anything into it," he assured me, "it certainly wasn't intentionally misleading." A definitive denial was issued by mistake.

Perhaps we should view the ministry's current position paper on the testing of Gulf war veterans for depleted uranium as another unfortunate accident. Or perhaps we simply shouldn't read anything into it. Otherwise we'd have no choice but to conclude that the mistakes it contains are a series of lies.

The fine particles of dust released when a DU-tipped weapon hits its target, are, the MoD insists, "rapidly diluted and dispersed into the environment by the weather", soon becoming "difficult to detect". Yet samples taken over Kuwait City in 1993, two years after the end of the Gulf war, found depleted uranium particles in the air. This result appears to have been corroborated both by the preliminary findings of the UN team in Kosovo and by the results obtained in Iraq by the researcher Dr Chris Busby. He found that levels of radiation in the air over the Gulf war battlefields were 20 times higher last year than the levels in Baghdad.

No one "other than those in an armoured vehicle penetrated by a DU projectile", the MoD paper insists, would be exposed to enough uranium "to receive a radiation dose greater than 20 to 30 millisieverts". In the most "extreme and unlikely cases", such as working for 30 or 40 hours inside a tank which had been hit by one of these missiles, a serviceman might receive "a radiation dose of the order of 50 millisieverts." Such radiation levels should present little cause for concern, the paper argues, as the "safe dose" for people working in the UK is calculated at 50 millisieverts a year. Servicemen receiving this dose from "extreme and unlikely" exposure "would be at a slightly increased risk of developing cancer". For everyone else the risk would be "negligible".

These conclusions, the MoD admits, are based on speculation, as "no UK Gulf veterans have so far been specifically tested for the presence of uranium" by the government. This is true, as far as it goes. But other Gulf veterans have been tested by independent researchers. And their findings, based not upon speculation but upon hard fact, suggest a very different level of contamination.

Urine samples taken from veterans and measured by mass spectometry have been analysed by the medical researchers Professor Hari Sharma and Dr Rosalie Berthell. Their results suggest that the doses received by soldiers inhaling the dust are in the order not of 20 or 30 or 50 millisieverts, but of 778.

As Malcolm Hooper, emeritus professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Sunderland has shown, fine particles of DU entering the lungs are likely to stay in the body for between 10 and 20 years. The fact that DU is still appearing in some Gulf veterans' urine suggests he may be right. If this is the case and the samples taken so far are representative, then instead of a "negligible" or "slightly increased" risk of cancer, we could, he argues, expect between 1,500 and 10,500 of the UK's 53,000 Gulf war soldiers to develop fatal cancers as a result of their exposure to DU.

Now no one can put her hand on her heart and say that the diseases beginning to emerge among both Iraqi civilians and ex-servicemen are the result of exposure to DU. But neither can anyone put her hand on her heart and say they are not. Yet this is precisely what the MoD has sought to do. Like certain other government departments, it has deployed not the precautionary principle, but the improvidence principle: shoot first, ask questions later.

It's not hard to see why it should do so. Were the MoD to express any doubts about the safety of its procedures, the potential compensation claims would make the BSE disaster look cheap. DU dust is likely to have become so widespread that an effective clean-up operation in the Gulf and the Balkans would cost some trillions of pounds. The UK could also find itself firmly on the wrong side of the Geneva convention.

So we can expect the unfortunate mistakes the MoD has made to continue for as long as possible. Statistics, as far as government departments are concerned, will remain not a science, but an art.

CHICAGO — Drawing up a partition for peace is admittedly a tricky business, but it can work — provided each party gives the other what it needs: sovereignty, security and a workable arrangement for building a state.

Although securing partitions in places like Bosnia and Kosovo is not easy, one can at least see on a map how such an arrangement could work. The question is, can President Clinton's recently offered partition plan bring peace to Israelis and Palestinians? Does the geography allow it?

It's hard to see how. Because of security needs, Israel cannot grant the Palestinians a truly independent state of their own. Without a viable state, however, the Palestinians will not agree to end the conflict.

American commentators have painted the Clinton plan as fairly generous to the Palestinians. After all, Palestinians would control roughly 95 percent of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip, including Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Palestinians would also have some jurisdiction over important holy sites in Jerusalem. There is a nod to the notion that the Palestinian state would be contiguous and not a string of disconnected pieces of territory.

The truth, however, is that the Clinton plan would create a truncated Palestinian state with limited sovereignty. Under the plan, Israel can maintain a major presence in the West Bank (roughly 80 percent of Israeli settlements on the West Bank could remain in place). Moreover, the plan apparently envisions a Palestinian state divided into three cantons, each separated from the other by Israeli-controlled territory. In particular, the West Bank would effectively be divided in half by Jewish settlements and roads running from Jerusalem to the Jordan River Valley. The Gaza Strip and the West Bank are already geographically separated by Israeli territory.

Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem would become part of the Palestinian state, but two of these neighborhoods would be islands surrounded on all sides by Israeli territory — outposts cut off from their homeland.

The Clinton plan lets Israel maintain military forces in the strategically important Jordan River Valley. This means Israel would control the eastern border of the Palestinian state. Israel says it might be willing to remove its forces after six years, but there is no guarantee that it would actually do so. And why would it? The strategic value of the Jordan Valley to Israel — which is great — will not diminish over time.

Moreover, the Palestinians would not be allowed to build a military that could defend them, and they would have to let the Israeli army move into their new state if Israel declared a "national state of emergency." This stricture has echoes of the infamous Platt Amendment of 1901, which gave the United States broad rights to intervene in Cuba but which poisoned Cuban-American relations for more than 30 years. Finally, Israel could hold ultimate control over the Palestinians' water supply and air space.

It is hard to imagine the Palestinians accepting such a state. Certainly no other nation in the world has such curtailed sovereignty. Even if the Clinton plan is accepted, the new state is sure to be a source of boundless anger.

The best chance for peace depends on Israel's conceding enough to allow a strong and coherent Palestinian state to emerge. This approach would mandate a contiguous Palestinian state that has the means to defend itself. Israel would also have to abandon most of its settlements and roads on the West Bank and remove its troops for good from the Jordan River Valley. In short, Israel would have to radically alter its vision of a Palestinian state.

Israel won't agree to such measures anytime soon. This is partly because Israeli settlers will resist being uprooted from their homes, and partly because religious Israelis assert a sacred right to control the West Bank. But the larger issue is Israeli security. Israel doesn't want a strong Palestinian state that might threaten Israel, either by itself or in an alliance with other Arab states.

One might argue that the Palestinians would have no beef with Israel if they had a legitimate state of their own. This is possible, but Israel can never be certain about future Palestinian intentions. Indeed, given the bitter conflicts of the past century and the fact that Palestinians widely believe that Israel was built on stolen Palestinian land, the Israelis have good reason to fear continued Palestinian revanchism against Israel. Therefore, common sense says that Israel should not let the Palestinians acquire the capability to settle old scores.

In sum, it is hard to see how the Palestinians could get a viable state that would not threaten Israel. Independence for the Palestinians and security for the Israelis are fundamentally incompatible.

By comparison, partitioning Bosnia and Kosovo is a much easier task (although neither would be easy). For example, if Serbia agreed to independence for Kosovo, the new state would not have the capability to threaten Serbia — even if it became part of a greater Albania. Nor would it have serious claims on Serbian territory, except for the small parts of Kosovo that Serbia might get in the partition deal.

In a Bosnian partition, the Muslims would get their own small state, while the Croat and Serb-dominated parts of Bosnia would likely become part of Croatia and Serbia respectively. The Croats and Serbs inside and outside of Bosnia would welcome this outcome, which would not detract from their security in any way. While the Muslims oppose partition (because they think they can dominate Bosnia's politics), they would probably be more secure in their own state than in a multi-ethnic Bosnia. They could build their own army to protect their state from attack, and their Serb and Croat neighbors would have less reason to attack them.

The key point is that unlike the Israelis, none of the actors in Bosnia and Kosovo are made less secure by a partition that creates viable states on both sides of the dividing lines.

One possible similarity between these cases is that all three would require some population transfers, which are sure to make partition less palatable. But even here, resistance in Israel to moving the settlers off the West Bank is likely to be greater than Serbian resistance to moving Serbs about Kosovo or Bosnia, or Croatian resistance to moving Croats about Bosnia to carve out a viable Muslim state.

President Clinton still hopes to pull off a peace accord. But it's hard to imagine that even an accord could bring about a permanent peace. Israel cannot be secure alongside a securely independent Palestinian state.

PLANS for a new European defence force could lead to the breaking up of Nato as the main instrument for Western defence and security, according to Sir John Weston, former British ambassador to the alliance.

He mounted a fierce attack yesterday on the provisions in the EU Treaty drawn up at Nice last month for a European defence identity. Sir John said the defence provisions in the treaty were "excruciatingly bureaucratic" and it defied common sense for the EU to set up a complete set of military institutions in parallel with Nato.

Sir John, who was Britain's ambassador to Nato from 1992-95, is the latest in a growing line of senior diplomatic, political and military figures on both sides of the Atlantic who have voiced concern about the EU's plans for a Rapid Reaction Force.

At a seminar organised by New Europe, the anti-single currency but pro-EU pressure group, he said the 60 pages of the Nice Treaty devoted to the defence identity suggested a more ambitious interpretation of EU aims than simply the stated ones of occasional humanitarian, rescue and peacekeeping tasks.

He asked: "Why else would one need a separate EU Military Staff Committee at Chiefs of Defence level, a fully fledged military staff organisation, a strategic planning capability, a satellite centre, an institute of security studies and a force catalogue currently listed in the documents as 100,000 strong with 400 combat aircraft and 100 vessels?"

Sir John said it defied common sense that two separate multinational organisations - Nato and the EU task force - could flourish in Europe "with a very high coincidence of common membership, each of them presiding simultaneously over the same European military manpower, assets and budgets and each claiming responsibility for common security and defence policy in Europe.

"The present course, whether by collective sleepwalking or tacit collusion, leads inexorably to the progressive downgrading and deconstruction of Nato as the main Western instrument of collective defence and security and to attenuation of the Washington Treaty as the main legal expression of transatlantic unity. Clever drafting and brave UK footnotes will not stem this tide."

Sir John said that if the Americans were currently more pre-occupied with Asia, National Missile Defence and non-participatory unilateralism than with engagement in Europe, there was all the more reason for Europeans to keep Nato "in muscular trim" and thereby to strengthen their influence on American decisions.

AN Army medical report compiled four years ago gave warning of the high risk of cancer faced by soldiers who handled Iraqi tanks hit by depleted uranium shells.

The report said that any soldier dealing with damaged armoured vehicles ran the risk of inhaling or ingesting eight times the acceptable limit of radiation, which could lead to cancer in the long term. It was claimed that some of the British soldiers involved had not worn protective clothing and face masks.

Veterans of both the Gulf War and the Balkan peacekeeping missions, which are now at the centre of renewed fears about uranium poisoning, seized on the report as evidence that the MoD had covered up the real dangers faced by troops who had had contact with depleted uranium.

However, the ministry insisted that the report had been written by a "trainee" and had never been endorsed by his superiors. A spokesman said the report was also full of scientific inaccuracies and was "misleading".

Instructions about handling depleted uranium-affected vehicles in the Gulf War had been sent out to the warzone "through the chain of command". But the MoD acknowleged that it was possible that some soldiers who came into contact with depleted uranium had not worn protective clothing.

Sir Keith O’Nions, the MoD’s chief scientific adviser, is expected to make a statement today attempting to put the 1997 report into context, and confirming that it did not represent the official position.

The MoD said that many reports were produced after the Gulf War, but the conclusive document summing up its position on depleted uranium, published in March 1999, emphasised that the health risks were low.

THE Ministry of Defence admitted yesterday that it could be the end of the year before Balkans servicemen and women would undergo tests for possible uranium poisoning. Although the proposed screening should be in force by the end of the year, MoD officials said that there was no decision on what form it would take.

Officials were indicating on Tuesday that Balkans veterans would be sent to the existing "medical assessment programme" for Gulf War veterans, carried out by civilian consultant physicians at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.

But the MoD said yesterday that no plan had been decided on. Several options were under consideration, including checking 1,000 Balkans veterans and comparing findings with a control group of service personnel who had not been to Bosnia or Kosovo. Another possibility was to use a mass spectrometer to isolate individual isotopes in the body.

A senior official said that a screening process for measuring "whole body uranium" levels existed and was already available for Gulf War veterans. This would include any presence of depleted uranium, he said.

But, since there was pressure on the MoD to provide a specific depleted uranium testing system, consultations were now needed with Nato allies and medical experts, such as the Royal Society, to devise a method acceptable to veterans.

The MoD is convinced that the use of depleted uranium shells in Kosovo and Bosnia could not have caused leukaemia. One official said that if a soldier ingested sufficient quantities of soluble radioactive dust while inside a Serb tank damaged by a depleted uranium attack, the risk of developing cancer would be 1.2 in 10,000. The radioactive dust particles would have scattered into the air only if the depleted uranium shell had hit a hardened target, such as a tank, and, as Nato admitted after the Kosovo air campaign was over, very few Serb tanks were hit during the 78-day bombing missions.

Trying to put the depleted uranium scare in context, the MoD official said: "I would have to hold a piece of DU in my hand without gloves on for 250 hours before exceeding the UK statutory limit for uranium in the body." The Royal Society is carrying out its own study into health risks.

Nato agreed yesterday to help to co-ordinate all the investigations under way by individual countries into possible health risks to Bosnia and Kosovo peacekeepers from depleted uranium weapons. After a meeting of alliance ambassadors, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, Nato Secretary-General, said that a special working group would be set up at the Brussels headquarters to act as a clearing house for all the information on depleted uranium gathered within the alliance and elsewhere. Nato’s chiefs of military medical services committee will meet on Monday to exchange views.

Lord Robertson said that Nato would also co-operate with any international organisation, such as the United Nations Environment Programme, but the alliance was confident there was a limited health risk from the effects of depleted uranium munitions.

Lord Robertson added that representatives from the 31 countries in peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia and 27 nations on the ground in Kosovo would consider whether further studies were needed at a regular meeting tomorrow.

He went on: "I want to reassure our troops, civilian back-up and families that there is nothing to fear from this particular type of munitions. People must understand that when we act, we act with the interests of our troops and civilians very much in mind."

His comments followed a meeting with Goran Svilanovic, Yugoslavia’s new Foreign Minister, at which Nato and Yugoslavia agreed to share all information about depleted uranium residues in the Balkans. Calls from at least one Nato country — Italy — for depleted uranium weapons to be withdrawn were rejected.

Germany said yesterday that its soldiers in Bosnia found a "certain level" of radiation emitted by munitions found near Sarajevo, but could not confirm the presence of depleted uranium.

Iraq has called for the US and Britain to face a war crimes trial for using depleted uranium weapons in the Gulf War. It said cancer rates had quadrupled in bombed areas of southern Iraq.

TESTING soldiers who served in Kosovo and Bosnia for depleted uranium may not be simple.

Urine tests can show if the body is excreting uranium in unusual quantities. They can also show if there is any damage to the kidneys, the organ most vulnerable to uranium toxicity. On their own, however, urine tests cannot distinguish between natural uranium — a common constituent of soils to which all of us are exposed — and the depleted uranium used in shells.

To do so it would be necessary to extract the minute quantities of uranium found in the urine and test it in a mass spectrometer, a machine that can measure the mass of individual atoms, distinguishing between uranium-233, 235, and 238. Chemical tests cannot do this because all isotopes (different forms of the same atom) have identical chemical behaviour. Depleted uranium would show a signature with a greater proportion of U-238 isotopes and an absence of U-235, the fissile isotope removed from depleted uranium.

Veterans’ organisations believe it is important to make this distinction because depleted uranium may behave differently in the body.

Dr Douglas Holdstock of Medact, a doctors’ organisation involved in peace and development issues, said that when depleted-uranium shells detonate they create a dust of ceramic-like fragments that are particularly insoluble. That meant that these fragments were less easily cleared from the lung and may stay there a long time.

Although not highly radioactive, such fragments emit alpha particles. Normally alpha particles are not a worry because they are easily stopped: a sheet of paper or a layer of skin is enough to stop them penetrating.

Once inside the body, however, they can penetrate individual cells and cause genetic changes to DNA. Recent research suggests that such DNA damage can then affect neighbouring cells, even ones beyond the range of the alpha particles. These is a danger that such changes eventually could lead to cancer.

Discovering whether an ex-serviceman has an alpha-emitter lodged in his lung may not be straightforward because the particles are absorbed by tissue and do not emerge from the body. Whole-body scanners that detect radiation would miss them.

The history of attempts to screen US veterans is not enouraging. Dr Asaf Durakovic, a Professor of Radiology at Gergetown University in Washington DC, claims to have found that 17 veterans of the Gulf War still have high levels of depleted uranium in their bodies nearly a decade after the conflict ended.

Tests in Canada on the urine of 69 Canadian soldiers, however, showed that they had less uranium in their bodies than the general population. The levels were so low that further planned tests proved impossible.

LORD Robertson, the NATO secretary-general, yesterday tried to calm fears over health risks linked to the use of depleted uranium weapons in the Balkans.

After talks between NATO ambassadors in Brussels, Lord Robertson insisted that there was no scientific evidence linking the use of uranium shells to illness among troops serving in peacekeeping forces in the region. He urged people to "focus more on the facts and less on the emotions".

The NATO chief emerged from the talks to give reassurance to NATO troops, civilian back-up staff who have been involved in peacekeeping operations in areas where the controversial weapons have been used, and to their families.

He promised that the alliance was working as swiftly as possible to establish the facts, adding: "After five years it is not going to be an easy job."

The NATO meeting highlighted deep differences between alliance member states over the impact of the depleted uranium weapons on the health of individuals on the ground in the Balkans.

The talks followed the deaths of six Italian soldiers and a spate of cancer cases among NATO troops from other countries returning from Balkan peacekeeping duties.

Italy and Germany are demanding a ban on the use of depleted uranium weapons while an investigation is carried out into the health implications. Portugal, Holland, Belgium, France and - since Tuesday - Britain are screening soldiers for symptoms ranging from hair loss to chronic fatigue.

Britain told the talks today that, despite yesterday’s government announcement in London of screening for soldiers concerned about health problems they believe may be associated with their service in the Balkans, the UK was still insisting there is no scientific evidence to back up claims of a connection.

Spain does not believe there is any risk at all from the use of DU shells. Until a scientifically backed medical link is made, many NATO allies believe such weapons should remain available because of their effectiveness in the field.

Lord Robertson said yesterday monitoring of the situation was going on and investigations into claims of a serious health risk would be completed as soon as possible.

But he insisted: "I want to reassure our troops, civilian back-up and families that there is nothing to fear from this particular type of munitions."

He went on: "People must understand that when we act, we act with the interests of our troops and civilians very much in mind.

"We need to focus more on the facts and less on the emotions and ensure that people realise this is not something, on the basis of scientific fact, that is likely to cause a problem for our troops in the area."

Meanwhile, a European Commission committee which advises EU member states on nuclear safety issues and radiation risks began a special assignment investigating the health claims associated with the use of depleted uranium. The committee, made up of scientific experts from the EU member states, includes three Britons and has been asked to report back within a month.

Yesterday, Sweden, the EU president, announced that the issue has now been put on the agenda for priority discussion at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on 22 January.

The Royal British Legion called for a public inquiry into the health of Gulf war veterans. Screening for Balkans veterans was not enough, a statement from it said.

Ian Townsend, the Legion secretary general, said: "The Legion believes veterans need and deserve a public inquiry so that they can stop suspecting and start dealing with the truth."

The NATO meeting still left question-marks over the safety of depleted uranium munitions.

Although pressure to ban such weapons was resisted - none is in use at present - the allies vowed full co-operation with investigations being carried out by its member states or by "responsible multi-national organisations".

Yesterday’s statement emphasised that the NATO allies are committed to the health and safety of their servicemen and women and to the avoidance of ill effects for civilian populations and staff of NGOs as a result of NATO military operations.

But it went on: "There is no evidence currently available to suggest that exposure to expended depleted uranium munitions represents a significant health risk for NATO-led forces or the civilian population in the Balkans." Nevertheless, NATO promised that the situation would be kept under review.

BRUSSELS, - Facing a public outcry in Europe about the use of depleted-uranium munitions in Kosovo in 1999, NATO offered full cooperation today with all investigations into the weapons' health consequences for Western peacekeepers in the province.

NATO Secretary General George Robertson said the alliance had "nothing to hide and everything to share" in seeking to reassure troops and civilians that there were no serious health hazards from the uranium-tipped shells that U.S. planes fired at Yugoslav tanks and other targets during the 78-day air war.

"European governments will think twice about sending troops on NATO military missions next time if they know the Americans and the British will be using depleted-uranium weapons," said Rafael Estrella, a Spanish legislator who serves as president of NATO's parliamentary assembly. "This is a very important political matter that has to be cleared up soon."

NATO's decision for an information offensive was reached at a meeting today by ambassadors of NATO's 19 member states. Participants described the talks as unusually stormy. Pleas from Italy, Germany, Greece and Norway for the Western military alliance to take the munitions out of its arsenals were firmly rejected by the United States, Britain and France.

U.S. officials said a moratorium would be perceived as a guilt admission that could be exploited to pin allegations of war crimes on allied political and military leaders. Even if investigations gave depleted-uranium arms a clean bill of health, restoring them to allied arsenals after a withdrawal would spark another controversy, the officials said.

"We must base our analysis on facts and not be swayed by perceptions," Robertson told reporters. "I would not agree to the use of the munitions if I believed there were a hazard." He said that since NATO is not engaged in combat at this time, the issue of withdrawing the weapons from allied arsenals was moot.

Depleted uranium is used to tip anti-tank shells because its high density and hardness give the weapons a special ability to punch through heavy armor. NATO contends they are crucial to its military readiness.

But the discovery of several cancer cases and other serious ailments among returning European veterans of NATO peacekeeping forces in the Balkans has stirred a political uproar that has defied arguments of medical scientists, who say health risks posed by the weapons are minimal.

Nonetheless, NATO saw enough of a problem with toxic residue from the shells to issue a warning in July 1999 to all members of the peacekeeping mission urging the use of face masks, gloves and other protective measures when coming into contact with shell fragments left from the air campaign. NATO officials acknowledge that the alliance was probably negligent in not removing the exploded shells and thus eliminating any potential danger to Kosovo civilians or Western peacekeeping troops.

Some European politicians, notably German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping, have questioned why NATO should jeopardize its standing with the public by employing tainted weapons when there are alternatives.

Questions also were raised during Robertson's news conference about NATO's promise to provide full and complete information to investigators.

Pekka Haavisto, a former environment minister from Finland who heads the U.N. inquiry in Kosovo, complained that he has been sparring with NATO for the past 18 months to find out exactly where depleted-uranium shells were used. He only recently secured the information after intervention by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Robertson conceded that NATO had been slow to provide the information because of what he described as "bureaucratic delays." But he insisted the alliance was determined to be more forthcoming in dealing with the controversy.

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Jan 10 (AFP) - Bernard Kouchner, Kosovo's chief UN administrator, urged the province's ethnic-Albanian majority to turn its back on violence Wednesday in a final televised address before his mandate ends.

"My final message to the people of Kosovo is simple and grave: Stop the killings," he declared during a live broadcast on the RTK network.

But his message may have been overshadowed by an embarrassing technical hitch which saw his speech, in English, translated into Serbian on a channel normally reserved for Albanian-language programming, and vice versa.

UN press officer Francois Charlier said that once the switch over was noticed it was impossible to switch back, raising the possibility that Kouchner's hard-hitting address could offend Kosovo's rival communities simply by arriving in the wrong language.

Kouchner warned that the wave of ethnic, political and criminal killings that has swept the breakaway Yugoslav province since his UN administration took office in June 1999 had damaged the sympathy felt for its ethnic Albanian majority when they were the victims of Slobodan Milosevic's reign of terror.

"Let me warn you, the image the world has of the people of Kosovo has changed from the spring of 1999. In the eyes of the outside world, the victims in a way have become the oppressors," he said.

Kouchner's reign saw the return of some 800,000 ethnic Albanians who were driven from the province by a campaign of murder and mass eviction launched by former Yugoslav president Milosevic's forces in response to a separatist uprising.

But in turn around 210,000 non-Albanians, the vast majority of them Serbs, have themselves fled the province as extremist gangs launched their own campaign of terror against minority groups.

Hundreds of Serbs, Bosnians and Roma (Gypsies) have since been killed or injured in ethnically motivated attacks.

Standing in front of a poster showing a smiling Serb farmer greeting a cheerful Albanian neighbour, Kouchner said: "The main failure of the international community, our failure, is certainly our inability to offer enough protection to the Serb community, the minorities, even if the situation has improved."

Divisions within the ethnic-Albanian community have also generated violence, as members of Ibrahim Rugova's moderate Democratic League were targeted by hardline former guerrillas and administrators who opposed organised crime were shot or threatened.

"If the violence continues -- against minorities, against honest administrators, outspoken intellectuals and elected leaders -- then all the pain spent and the progress made in Kosovo is lost," Kouchner warned.

"You must reconcile with the Serbs! Yes, the Serbs, your neighbours. Some of them were your oppressors, but the majority were not," he said.

Kouchner also took Kosovars to task for their support of the ethnic Albanian separatists who have exported violence from the province and into southern Serbia, where they have seized territory and launched attacks against police.

Kouchner, a former French health minister, is to leave Kosovo at the weekend. His successor Hans Haekkerrup, a former Danish defence minister, is to take up his functions on January 15.

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General also dwelt on the successes of his mission, what he described as "milestones" on the road to the "substantial autonomy" Kosovo was promised in UN Security Council resolution 1244, the document which gave him his mandate.

Congratulating a "remarkable people" Kouchner praised the "dignity" with which Kosovars had voted in October's municipal poll and the hard work they had put in to rebuilding their economy.

But as he spoke there was an unwelcome reminder of the work still to do to get the wartorn province back on its feet, as a powercut blacked out much of central Pristina, turning off tens of thousands of televisions and silencing both the departing leader's warnings and his praise.

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Jan 10 (AFP) - Kosovo's television viewers got an early opportunity to heed calls for tolerance Wednesday when an address by UN chief Bernard Kouchner was transmitted in Serbian on an Albanian-language channel and vice versa.

Kouchner, who is due to leave Kosovo at the weekend, used his farewell address to urge the province's rival ethnic Albanian and Serb communities to seek reconciliation after his 18 month mandate was marred by ethnic violence.

But due to a technical fault at Kosovo's public RTK channel his speech, which was made in English but broadcast live with simultaneous translation, went out in Serbian on a frequency normally reserved for Albanian programming, UN press officer Francois Charlier told AFP.

Serbian homes received the Albanian version, giving both groups an opportunity to demonstrate tolerance by remaining tuned in to the language of their hated rivals.

But if they did, for many their understanding was not rewarded, as a power cut blacked out tens of thousands of homes in central Pristina before they could hear Kouchner say: "You must reconcile with the Serbs! Yes, the Serbs your neighbours."

Language is a deeply emotional issue in Kosovo, where Albanian culture was ruthlessly suppressed during the 10 years that preceded the 1998 armed rebellion by ethnic Albanian separatists.

Since Kouchner's UN administration took over the province in June 1999, Kosovo Albanians have been free to express themselves but, faced with revenge attacks and ethnic violence, Serbian communities have retreated behind barbed-wire and international peacekeepers.

Last year Kouchner gave a speech in Albanian to mark a day against violence, and uttered one phrase in Serbian -- "All Kosovars are equal" -- and was booed by thousands of Albanians.

Kouchner was said to be pleased with his performance and was not informed of the technical hitch before he left the studio, a UN source told AFP.

VRANJE, Yugoslavia, Jan 10 (AFP) - Ethnic Albanian rebels killed nine Serb civilians and eight policemen in attacks in southern Serbia last year, the local police chief said Wednesday.

Attacks by the rebels, fighting for independence in Kosovo and neighboring regions of southern Serbia where there is an Albanian majority, left 43 wounded, 41 of them policemen, Colonel Novica Zdravkovic said during a press conference.

Between January 1 and December 31, 313 attacks were perpetrated, 285 of them in the region of Bujanovac, on the border with Kosovo.

Another 14 Serbs were kidnapped, 10 of whom have been released, but the fate of the remaining hostages remains unknown, he said.

In the course of the attacks, the rebels used automatic rifles, rocket-launchers, mortars, anti-tank mines and various explosives, added Zdravkovic.

Rebels of the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB), thought to number between 800 and 1,500 men, are fighting for control of three towns in Serbian territory, which have a large ethnic Albanian population.

The disputed zone was demilitarized under an accord between NATO and Yugoslav forces at the end of the Kosovo war in June 1999. Under the agreement, only lightly armed Serbian police forces are permitted to patrol the zone.

BRUSSELS, Jan 10 (AFP) - Yugoslavia asked NATO on Wednesday to re-think a cordon sanitaire around Kosovo which is frequently violated by armed ethnic Albanians, as the alliance and its former adversary sat down to their first official talks since NATO bombed it in 1999.

The two agreed on cooperation to reduce tensions in the demilitarised security zone between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia.

Ethnic Albanian separatists, claiming Serbia's southern border region for Kosovo, have increasingly been carrying out armed attacks in the area.

Belgrade wants the security zone to be abolished or at least to see its status and extent re-defined in order to let the Yugoslav military deal with the ethnic Albanian guerrillas, visiting Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said.

"The security zone is a key question," he warned, stressing that its status was of major concern to Yugoslavia.

Svilanovic, representing the reformist government of President Vojislav Kostunica which succeeded Slobodan Milosevic, met NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, a former British defence minister and strong supporter of the NATO bombing.

He also held talks with NATO ambassadors who form the alliance's highest decision-making body, the permanent council.

Despite the resumption of dialogue, Belgrade wishes no more than a necessary working relationship with NATO, which bombed its territory only 18 months ago. Svilanovic avoided having to shake Robertson's hand in front of the press after their joint press conference.

Apart from lightly armed Serbian police, Serbs have no authority to challenge ethnic Albanians who have been repeatedly carrying out attacks and reinforcing their presence in the security zone imposed by NATO in June 1999. "We have had a first discussion on this topic which will be followed others at various levels," Svilanovic said.

Information exchanges would occur between NATO and Belgrade. "The door is open to discussion," the minister added, recalling that the security zone had been set up while NATO was still at war with the Yugoslav army under the then president Milosevic.

But since the latter's electoral defeat in September there was no further need for the zone. "The Yugoslav army is no longer an enemy army," Svilanovic stressed.

But Robertson made no promises, saying only NATO was willing to talk to Belgrade and wished to reduce the level of violence and provocation by the ethnic Albanians.

The situation of ex-president Milosevic, indicted by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, was also broached.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has indicted Milosevic and four of his top allies for alleged war crimes committed during the Kosovo war.

But Belgrade has been insisting the former president should be tried in Yugoslavia, with full cooperation from the ICTY.

"My government is already cooperating with the ICTY," the minister said, noting that ICTY prosecutor Carla del Ponte would soon visit Belgrade.

Del Ponte recently rejected a suggestion by Svilanovic that Milosevic could be tried in Belgrade, insisting that he be brought to The Hague like other suspects.

Svilanovic said his government was also planning a Truth Commission to examine evidence of all war crimes committed "both by Serbs and against Serbs" during nearly 10 years of conflict in former Yugoslavia.

Robertson spoke of the meeting as an historic day and stressed the need to ensure peace and stability in the region by eventually integrating Yugoslavia into the Partnership for Peace programme which has linked NATO in cooperative arrangements with central and eastern European countries, including former Warsaw Pact members.

Meanwhile it was reported from Belgrade that Yugoslavia may be offered special observer status at the Council of Europe, a Strasbourg-based international democracy and human rights watchdog body.

"We are proposing to the political commitee of the (Council of Europe) parliamentary assembly that Yugoslavia be given the status of a special guest," said Claude Frey, head of a Council of Europe delegation currently in Belgrade to evaluate Yugoslavia's democratic process since the end of the Milosevic regime.

LONDON, Jan 11 (AFP) - Thousands of Britons living close to depleted uranium (DU) firing ranges or factories producing the munitions are at risk from contamination, an expert warned on Thursday.

Meanwhile, media reports said that Britain's defence ministry has been aware for almost four years that soldiers exposed to DU munitions risked developing cancer.

Professor Malcolm Hooper, from Sunderland University, north-east England, said there was a "very real" danger to people living near centres manufacturing DU projectiles.

"Often these are covert and are not known to the local population," he said in a news interview with the private ITV channel.

Hooper, who has given evidence on depleted uranium to the British parliament's Defence Select Committee, said: "It will be people living near firing ranges (who are at risk) although these are usually located in more remote areas."

His comments come after the government on Tuesday announced a voluntary screening programme for troops who had served in the Balkans conflict who fear that contact with depleted uranium has put their health at risk.

But the government stressed it did not believe there was any danger.

The offer of tests to soldiers has failed to satisfy veterans' groups, which complained the government had not gone far enough in addressing their concerns.

Newspapers and broadcasters reported Thursday that Britain's defence ministry had been aware of potential risks from depleted uranium since at least April 1997.

The BBC said that a report from the headquarters of the Army's Quartermaster-General had warned that soldiers dealing with vehicles which had been hit by DU-tipped projectiles would be exposed to up to eight times the acceptable level of exposure to uranium, unless they were provided with respiratory equipment.

But the defence ministry dismissed the report as a "discredited" draft paper, saying it had been prepared by a trainee and had not been endorsed by more senior staff.

Iain Duncan Smith, defence spokesman for the opposition Conservative party, said: "If they are claiming that the evidence in this document was flawed, they should now release the new evidence that disproved it."

Battlefield munitions are often tipped with depleted uranium, an extremely dense substance which allows them to penetrate tank armour.

The current scare over DU shells centres on their use by US bombers in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Italy claims that a number of its troops are suffering from leukemia, possibly as a result of exposure to spent DU shells while on peacekeeping duty in the Balkans.

Other countries, including Germany, Belgium and Portugal have put pressure on NATO chiefs to look again at the use of DU munitions by the forces under their command.

BRUSSELS, Jan 10 (AFP) - NATO bowed to pressure from its European members Wednesday, creating a commission to probe the health effects of its use of depleted uranium munitions in the Balkans as the number of suspicious deaths and illnesses among returned peacekeepers mounted.

But there was reluctance for the investigation from Britain and the United States, which, along with France, are the only NATO members acknowledged to use the ultra-dense, "tank-busting" munition.

The NATO commission is to examine the risks posed by the use of US forces of depleted uranium, or DU, rounds. US aircraft fired some 31,000 DU projectiles during NATO's 1999 air war against Yugoslavia, according to the Pentagon. Another 10,800 rounds were fired in 1994-1995 conflict in Bosnia, where many of the afflicted peacekeepers served.

NATO Secretary General George Robertson, who was Britain's defence minister during the Yugoslavia conflict, said the probe would go ahead because the Alliance had "nothing to hide".

He added: "I wouldn't have agreed to these amunitions when I was minister if we knew that they would involve any health hazard. It is a proven technology and valuable on the battlefield."

And in Washington, US Defence Secretary William Cohen described the health dangers of DU projectiles as being "like leaded paint".

"Leaded paint does not pose a problem to you unless it starts to peel and then children or others ingest it," he said.

But the number of cases of cancer and other illnesses among Balkans veterans grew Wednesday with The Netherlands' junior defence minister, Henk van Hoof, saying four Dutch peacekeepers who had served in Bosnia or Kosovo had died from leukemia. Before, reports had counted two deaths.

Van Hoof told the ANP news agency that the deaths did not reveal "higher-than-average rates of leukemia" among servicemen.

To date, the deaths of eight soldiers from cancer-related illness has been reported in Italy and that country's defence ministry is studying another 23 suspect cases, while in Belgium five soldiers have died of cancer and another four are diagnosed with the disease, and in Spain officials have acknowledged three cancer cases -- including one death -- among its Balkans veterans.

Switzerland is investigating the leukemia death of one of its soldiers, as is Portugal. France has four cases of servicemen with leukemia, Greece has one, Denmark has two and Norway has an unspecified number.

In none of the cases, however, has a link been found between the deaths or health problems and the use of DU munitions.

The Yugoslav army even declared Tuesday that 1,000 of its soldiers that served in at-risk areas during the NATO air war had no symptoms of illness. Yugoslav Colonel Milenko Rilak said Wednesday that NATO's strikes using DU rounds had left six areas in the country contaminated by radiation, excluding those in the UN-run province of Kosovo, but that they were "away from inhabited areas".

The outgoing head of the UN administration running Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, told French television late Wednesday that there was no radioactivity detected in the Yugoslav province.

"Personally, I don't believe in the links between depleted uranium and the leukemia cases," said Kouchner, who is a doctor and the former head of the Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) aid organisation.

Other experts are not convinced however.

Even though they acknowledge that the low level of radiation emitted by DU projectiles is probably within tolerable limits, they stress that the ammunition causes poisonous clouds on impact. Many say the munition may be the cause of illness among soldiers who served in the Gulf War, which was the first conflict in which DU ammunition was used.

In Rome, Defence Minister Sergio Mattarella urged NATO to clarify the issue, saying "public opinion in Italy and worldwide is legitimately anxious, and entitled to a clear exposure of the truth regarding the illnesses of troops serving in Bosnia and Kosovo."

Even Javier Solana, who was NATO secretary general during the Kosovo war and who is now the European Union's foreign and defence policy representative, said further decisions concerning the use of DU munitions should await a full investigation of their effects.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP), meanwhile, has criticised NATO for being slow to provide information relating to DU-munitions strikes in Kosovo. The UN agency has reportedly found radioactive traces in eight of 12 areas selected from a NATO map of 112 zones struck with DU-munitions.

A definitive UNEP report on Kosovo is expected in March, and there is some suggestion the agency may also conduct tests in Bosnia.

The European Union has also ordered experts from its Euratom nuclear energy agency to provide an opinion by early February on the potential health risks of DU ammunition.

US Defense Secretary Cohen has conceded that remnants of tanks and armoured vehicles hit by DU rounds and now at the centre of cancer panic, should have been removed from Kosovo battlefields.

He stressed in a National Press Club address in Washington that warnings had been given to Allied forces in Kosovo on how to handle those tanks.

But he added: "We feel very confident that once that the science catches up with all of the news we will be able to persuade our allies that this is a responsible thing to do, and to continue to use this depleted uranium."

BRUSSELS, Jan 10 (AFP) - Yugoslavia will set up a South African-style "truth commission" to assist in the prosecution of war crimes suspects, Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic told media here on Wednesday.

"We are preparing a truth commission that will provide the evidence on all the war crimes committed," Svilanovic said after meeting with NATO Secretary General George Robertson and NATO ambassadors.

The panel is to examine evidence of all war crimes committed "both by Serbs and against Serbs" during nearly 10 years of conflict in former Yugoslavia, he said.

Svilanovic and Robertson broached the issue of prosecuting ousted Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic on war crimes charges, as the alliance and its former foe sat down to their first official talks since NATO air strikes in 1999.

The Yugoslav foreign minister, representing the reformist government of President Vojislav Kostunica which succeeded Milosevic, stressed that Belgrade was working with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

"We already have a cooperation with The Hague tribunal," he said, insisting it would continue.

Separately, Yugoslavia asked NATO to re-think a cordon sanitaire along Kosovo's internal boundary which is often violated by armed ethnic Albanians.

The two agreed on cooperation to reduce tensions in the demilitarised boundary zone between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia.

Ethnic Albanian separatists, claiming part of Serbia's southern region for Kosovo, have stepped up armed attacks in the area.

Belgrade wants the zone to be abolished or at least to see its status and extent re-defined in order to let the Yugoslav military deal with the ethnic Albanian guerrillas, Svilanovic said.

"The security zone is a key question," he warned, stressing that its status was of major concern to Yugoslavia.

Apart from lightly-armed Serbian police, Serbs have no authority to challenge ethnic Albanians in the security zone, which NATO imposed in June 1999.

"We have had a first discussion on this topic which will be followed others at various levels," Svilanovic said.

In addition to talks with Robertson, a former British defence minister and strong supporter of the NATO campaign against Yugoslavia, Svilanovic met with NATO ambassadors who form the alliance's highest decision-making body, the permanent council.

Despite the resumption of dialogue, Belgrade seeks no more than a minimal working relationship with NATO, which struck its territory only 18 months ago. Svilanovic avoided having to shake Robertson's hand in front of the press after their joint press conference.

And the question of bringing Milosevic to trial for war crimes, while broached, was left unresolved.

The ICTY has indicted Milosevic and four of his top allies for alleged war crimes committed during the Kosovo war.

But Belgrade has insisted the former president should be tried in Yugoslavia, with full cooperation from the ICTY, and Svilanovic noted that the tribunal's chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte would soon visit Belgrade.

Del Ponte recently rejected a suggestion that Milosevic be tried in the Yugoslav capital, insisting he be brought to The Hague like other suspects.

Robertson spoke of the meeting as an historic day and stressed the need to ensure peace and stability in the region by eventually integrating Yugoslavia into the Partnership for Peace programme which has linked NATO in cooperative arrangements with central and eastern European countries, including former Warsaw Pact members.

Meanwhile it was reported from Belgrade that Yugoslavia may be offered special observer status at the Council of Europe, a Strasbourg-based international democracy and human rights watchdog body.

"We are proposing to the political commitee of the (Council of Europe) parliamentary assembly that Yugoslavia be given the status of a special guest," said Claude Frey, head of a council delegation currently in Belgrade. The envoys are to evaluate Yugoslavia's democratic process since the end of the Milosevic regime.

BELGRADE, Jan 10 (AFP) -The people of Serbia are not at risk from depleted uranium (DU) munitions fired by NATO since no increased radiation levels have been found at most of the bomb sites tested in the country, scientists said Wednesday.

"We tested some 250 locations immediately after they were bombed and we found no indication of increased radiation" except at six sites, Srba Markovic, laboratory chief in Serbia's Vinca nuclear institute, told a meeting of scientists called by the health ministry.

NATO's use of armor-piercing DU rounds in its 1999 air war on Belgrade has left six areas of Yugoslavia contaminated by radiation, excluding areas in the UN-run province of Kosovo, Yugoslav army Colonel Milenko Rilak said.

However, those were "mainly uncultivable places, away from inhabited areas, which reduced the danger to people's health," Rilak said, adding that the spots, five in southern Serbia and one in Montenegro, had been isolated and were inaccessible to ordinary people.

"There has been absolutely no danger to the population," Milan Orlic of the Vinca institute said.

"At the moment there is no reason for panic," Serbian Health Minister Nada Kostic said.

Nevertheless, Kostic added that the ministry would form a commission of scientists and doctors to provide constant surveillance of the situation.

Slobodan Cikaric, deputy head of Belgrade's cancer clinic, said his institution has not registered any rise in the number of patients suffering from leukemia or other forms of cancers since the NATO bombings.

"The number of patients has not significantly changed since 1991," Cikaric said, adding however that the number of cancer cases could increase in the years to come, due to the delayed effects of exposure to depleted uranium.

The debate by prominent Serbian scientists comes as EU nations which sent troops to Bosnia and the Serbian province of Kosovo began investigations into leukemia and other illnesses suffered by Balkans veterans suspected to have links to DU projectiles fired by US forces.

Around 1,000 Yugoslav soldiers thought to have been exposed to DU munitions have been cleared by army medical tests as having no symptoms of related illnesses, Rilak said.

"We did not find a single case of a soldier contaminated by DU," Rilak said, adding however that "all the 100,000 Yugoslav soldiers who served in Kosovo at the time should to be tested, but that would require huge financial resources."

The existance of a so-called Balkans Syndrome among soldiers "is not proven yet, but it is possible that it could appear in the future," Markovic said.

LONDON, Jan 10 (AFP) - Britain's offer of medical tests to any soldiers worried about the risk to their health from exposure to depleted uranium shells failed to satisfy veterans' groups on Wednesday.

Junior defence minister John Spellar bowed to pressure Tuesday and agreed to screening for troops who had served on peacekeeping missions in the Balkans, but stressed he did not believe there was any risk.

That angered veterans' groups, who complained the government had not gone far enough in addressing concerns about depleted uranium (DU).

Kevin Rudland, a former army engineer who claims he has been suffering from hair loss and osteoarthritis since a tour in Bosnia, said he was "devastated" by Spellar's statement.

"I was just so shocked, and it took me an hour to come round," Rudland said. "There was nothing for the soldiers whatsoever. It was all said so arrogantly. They are just trying to cover up by saying there wasn't a problem when there obviously was."

Michael Burrows, senior coordinator of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association also dismissed Spellar's response.

"The screening that he is talking about is for uranium, not depleted uranium and from what we have been told... there isn't anywhere in the country that can carry out checks for DU," said Burrows.

Professor Malcolm Hooper, who advises parliament on the so-called 'Gulf War syndrome' accused the defence ministry of deliberately ignoring potential risks from DU shells.

"It seems as though they are hell bent on not getting any information that would put any block on the development of these depleted uranium munitions," he said.

"It is a typical ploy to avoid getting reliable information and rigorous examination. The Ministry of Defence are past masters at doing poor science and not setting up experiments that need to be done and not doing them with sufficient rigour," added Hooper.

Battlefield munitions are often tipped with depleted uranium, an extremely dense substance which allows them to penetrate tank armour.

But some scientists fear that servicemen exposed to radioactive dust they emit on impact could contract leukemia and other cancers. There has also been concern about the safety of people living near the battlefield.

The current scare over DU shells centres on their use by US bombers in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Italy claims that a number of its troops have died or are suffering from leukemia, possibly as a result of exposure to spent DU shells while on peacekeeping duty in the Balkans.

Other countries, including Germany, Belgium and Portgual have put pressure on NATO chiefs to look again at the use of DU munitions by the forces under their command.

BRUSSELS, Jan 10 (AFP) - NATO is to set up a special committee to study possible health risks for soldiers who served in parts of the Balkans where the alliance used depleted uranium munitions, NATO Secretary General George Robertson announced Wednesday.

"We are going to set up a dedicated committee on depleted uranium," Robertson told a press conference.

"We will do everything to make sure that the relevant information is known," he added, asserting that the alliance has "nothing to hide."

Some of NATO's European members are concerned at a spate of cancer cases, some fatal, among former Balkan peacekeepers and other personnel, which they say could be linked to depleted uranium (DU) munitions used in the alliance's tank-busting attacks.

Robertson described calls for a probe into the United States' use of DU in Bosnia in 1995 and Kosovo in 1999 as "legitimate demands", but added that he was "confident that there is little risk in NATO ammunitions."

"I wouldn't have agreed to these amunitions when I was minister if we knew that they would involve any health hazard. It is a proven technology and valuable on the battlefield," said Robertson, whose was Britain's defence minister in the Kosovo crisis.

Concerning UN complaints of NATO's failure to cooperate with investigations, Robertson said it was only due to "bureaucratic delay, which we all regret."

Robertson said that NATO's North Atlantic Council, the alliance's highest decision-making body made up of the permanent ambassadors in Brussels, had agreed to a request from Italy to provide maps of where DU ammunition had been used.

The council also decided to act as a hub for all national reports into the use of DU, and also offered assistance to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) if investigators -- currently in Kosovo -- are also sent to Bosnia.

A definitive UNEP report on Kosovo is expected in March. US fighter jets fired some 31,000 DU rounds during the NATO air war against Yugoslavia, according to the Pentagon. Another 10,800 rounds were fired in 1994-95 in Bosnia, where many of the afflicted peacekeepers were stationed.

Seven Italian soldiers and one aid worker, five Belgian peacekeepers, two Dutch nationals, two Spaniards, two Portuguese and a Czech have died after tours of duty in the Balkans, many from leukemia and other cancers.

DU munitions are able to penetrate heavy armor, and according to experts, the danger comes not from the low-level radiation they emit, but from the poisonous dust create on impact.

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia _Urging Kosovo's hostile ethnic groups to ``stop the killings,'' the outgoing U.N. administrator for the province called on its people Wednesday to reject intolerance and isolate extremists among them.

In an emotional speech, administrator Bernard Kouchner acknowledged the United Nations' ``inability to offer enough protection to the Serb community'' and other minorities, but also faulted the ethnic Albanian majority for a pattern of violence against minority Serbs.

Kouchner has served as the top U.N. official in Kosovo since the United Nations and NATO took control of the province in June 1999 after the alliance's 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. That campaign was launched to stop a crackdown by then-President Slobodan Milosevic against ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo.

A former French health minister and a founder of the aid group Doctors Without Borders. Kouchner is being replaced in mid-January by Hans Haekkerup, a former Danish defense minister.

``Life for the Serbs and other minorities in Kosovo remains precarious,'' Kouchner said in comments broadcast in the province on television and translated into Serb and Albanian.

``The security situation for minorities remains unacceptable,'' he added. ``In the eyes of the outside world, the victims in a way have become the oppressors.''

Until NATO bombing in 1999 forced an end to the crackdown on Kosovo's Albanians, Serbs were condemned worldwide for the violence they perpetrated on their victims. But that changed after NATO and the United Nations took control of the province, with daily attacks on minority Serbs by ethnic Albanians seeking to get even.

Despite an absence of all-out war, peace remained a long way off, Kouchner said.

``As I have said throughout my 18 months here, real peace takes time,'' he said. ``Many years, for sure.''

Alluding to the NATO air campaign launched to force a Kosovo settlement, Kouchner told viewers that the international community had a moral right to come to the assistance of the victims _ at that time, the ethnic Albanians.

But now, ``Kosovo is in danger of losing all the advantages given to you by the world's humanitarians and the world's leaders, if a better, more tolerant society is not developed here,'' he said, alluding to growing criticism of the attacks on Serbs remaining in Kosovo.

``It's not too late to transform this image and reverse the setbacks,'' he said. ``But you must take responsibility, now. All of you.

``My final message to the people of Kosovo is simple and grave. Stop the killings.''

BRUSSELS, Belgium - NATO announced Wednesday that it will set up a group to exchange information on possible health risks from depleted uranium munitions because of public concern that they may lead to cancer and other illnesses.

NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson told reporters there is no scientific evidence that exposure to armor-piercing munitions containing depleted uranium poses a significant health risk. Nevertheless, he said NATO has set up an action plan because of European countries' fears about health risks to soldiers assigned to the Balkans, where depleted uranium munitions were used in combat.

Robertson said the plan calls for full NATO cooperation with any investigations on depleted uranium's risks. It also includes consultation with countries that contribute peacekeepers to Bosnia and Kosovo and creation of a clearinghouse to exchange information on depleted uranium.

Depleted uranium, a slightly radioactive heavy metal, is used in anti-armor munitions because of its high penetrating power. U.S. forces fired weapons containing depleted uranium in Bosnia in 1994 and 1995, and in 1999, NATO fired such weapons during its bombing of Yugoslavia.

Numerous studies into the effects of depleted uranium have not revealed any connection between the metal and cancer. But concerns among European nations have intensified since Italy began studying the illnesses of 30 soldiers, seven of whom died of cancer, including five cases of leukemia.

While Britain has argued against a link between the depleted uranium and cancer-stricken soldiers, a document leaked to the British media revealed that a British army report had warned four years ago of health dangers connected to the heavy metal munitions.

The draft document, prepared by the Headquarters of the Army's Quartermaster-General in March 1997, said that soldiers exposed to dust from depleted uranium shells might be at risk of developing lung, lymph and brain cancers, according to the British Broadcasting Corp. and newspaper reports published Thursday. All troops who come in contact with depleted uranium ``should be aware that uranium dust inhalation carries a long-term risk to health,'' the document said, according to published excerpts.

The Ministry of Defense said that the document was a ``discredited'' draft paper, prepared by a trainee and never endorsed by senior staff.

``Certain elements are scientifically incorrect or misleading,'' the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

In France, four soldiers are being treated for leukemia. Several European countries have begun screening soldiers who served as peacekeepers in the Balkans. Many civilian aid agencies are doing the same.

On Wednesday, Portuguese Science Minister Mariano Gago said Portuguese scientific experts have found no dangerous levels of radiation during tests in Kosovo over the past four days. Gago told Portuguese state radio RDP that readings taken around the central Kosovo town of Klina, where Portuguese peacekeepers are stationed, showed normal levels of background radiation.

``The possibility of generalized contamination in the area is therefore out of the question,'' Gago said.

One Portuguese peacekeeper has been diagnosed with cancer since returning from Kosovo.

In Berlin, Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping also insisted there is no evidence to support growing concern that weapons containing depleted uranium pose a health risk.

``The results of the tests on (German) soldiers deployed in Kosovo, and on soldiers never deployed there, show no differences,'' Scharping said.

But he said Germany still wants a moratorium while more research is carried out. NATO turned down a request by Italy and Germany for such a moratorium Tuesday.

Asked why NATO refused to consider a moratorium, Robertson said that since there are currently no hostilities in Europe, the weapons are not being used anyway.

``What we have to do is act on the basis of our analysis of the facts,'' he said. ``I would not agree to the use of the munitions if I believed there were a hazard.''

One risk that NATO itself has acknowledged is the possibility of contamination from breathing dust from an exploded depleted uranium shell. But even then, Robertson said, one would have to be inside a destroyed vehicle to be affected.

BOOM, Belgium - It all started about a year after he returned from Bosnia - muscle pains, shortness of breath and stomach ailments. Five years later, Cpl. Guido Fleurackers says he's still sick and wants to know why.

``I have problems with sleeping, I have pain in my legs, my arms and in my muscles,'' said Fleurackers, a 20-year army veteran who served one tour in Bosnia and another in Croatia. ``I'm sure it's related to my service in the Balkans.''

Fleurackers is one of a growing number of Balkan veterans who fear they are at risk from cancer and other ailments, possibly due to exposure to ammunition containing depleted uranium.

Depleted uranium, a slightly radioactive heavy metal, is used in anti-armor munitions because of its penetrating power. U.S. forces fired weapons containing depleted uranium in Bosnia in 1994 and 1995, and in 1999, NATO (news - web sites) fired such weapons during its bombing of Yugoslavia.

Studies into the effects of depleted uranium have not revealed any link to cancer. But concerns among European nations have intensified since Italy began studying the illnesses of 30 soldiers, seven of whom died of cancer.

Since then, similar cases have been reported in at least eight other European countries, including four leukemia cases among Balkan veterans in France and two in Denmark. In Belgium, five soldiers who served in the Balkans have died of cancer and four more are suffering from the disease.

Now Fleurackers is part of a class action suit planned on behalf of 1,600 Belgian service members. The Belgian soldiers are not blaming their problems specifically on depleted uranium, but they claim the government endangered their health by sending them to U.N. and NATO-led peacekeeping missions in the former Yugoslavia.

Fleurackers says his health deteriorated drastically after he returned in 1994 from Bosnia, where he served in an engineering unit. Within months, he says he noticed fatigue, muscle pains, shortness of breath and stomach problems.

``My work began to suffer,'' Fleurackers said. ``Most people around me can't understand what has happened. Some people think I'm not really sick.''

Fleurackers was transferred to a desk job and then took nine months of sick leave in 1997. He returned to duty, but seven months ago was back on sick leave. Now, he's awaiting results of tests to determine if he has cancer. Even if he does not, he's worried that he may be discharged from the army for medical reasons.

Fleurackers maintains others are suffering from similar disorders but are afraid to talk about them for fear of losing their jobs.

``A lot of people have bought houses, have cars, have a family, have kids, and they are scared to lose their salaries every month,'' he said. ``This is reasonable. I'm also scared to lose my pay.''

NATO and the United States insist there is no evidence linking depleted uranium to cancer or other ailments among Balkan veterans. The European Union (news - web sites) and NATO have promised to accelerate research to determine if there is a ``Balkan Syndrome'' and if so, what causes it.

Still, many European soldiers and veterans are worried.

At his home in Sardinia, former Italian peacekeeper Valery Melis looked through photos of his time in the Balkans and wondered if the reason for his illness lies there. He's 23 and suffering from Hodgkin's disease, a form of cancer.

Melis served in Albania and Macedonia from March to June 1999. He never got closer to Kosovo than about 15 or 20 miles. But he still thinks he might have ``inhaled'' depleted uranium somehow.

``At first I didn't make the connection,'' Melis, an army corporal, said. But as the debate over the health risks of depleted uranium heated up across the continent, ``the first doubts came along.''

Then there is retired Capt. Frank Cop of Belgium, a Bosnia veteran who served 30 years before an undetermined illness forced him to retire.

``I don't know if I came in contact with it,'' he said. ``I did not receive any warnings. I did not have any protective gear.''

The Belgian government is at a loss to determine how to deal with people like Fleurackers. The Defense Ministry has been swamped with letters from parents and wives of soldiers serving in the Balkans, concerned about possible health risks.

``We know they are frustrated,'' Defense Ministry spokesman Gerard Harveng said. ``We want to give clarification to the families. We can understand their plight.''

For Fleurackers, there is little that can be done but await results of the various investigations.

``I don't know what my future holds,'' he said. ``I'm not afraid of a bullet. I'm not afraid of a grenade. But I am afraid of this. This is scary.''

LONDON _ The British Army issued a warning almost four years ago that soldiers exposed to dust from depleted uranium shells might be at risk of developing lung, lymph and brain cancers, according to a leaked document widely quoted in the British media on Thursday.

The draft document, prepared by the Headquarters of the Army's Quartermaster-General in March 1997, said that soldiers doing work inside vehicles which had been hit by the depleted uranium shells faced up to eight times the acceptable level of uranium exposure, according to the British Broadcasting Corp. and newspaper reports.

The Ministry of Defense immediately countered that the document was a ''discredited'' draft paper, prepared by a trainee and never endorsed by senior staff.

''Certain elements are scientifically incorrect or misleading,'' the Ministry of Defense said in a statement. The British government reiterated its position that medical evidence has so far failed to prove any link between the heavy metal, favored because of its ability to penetrate armor, and soldiers being diagnosed with cancer after coming into contact with the munitions.

But the document still threatened to inflame fears already sweeping across Europe that soldiers' lives had been put at risk in Bosnia and Kosovo, as well as in the Gulf War. Depleted uranium munitions were used in all of those wars.

Last month, Italy began studying the illnesses of 30 Balkans veterans, seven of whom died of cancer, including five cases of leukemia. In France, four soldiers are being treated for leukemia. Several European countries have begun screening soldiers who served as peacekeepers in the Balkans. Many civilian aid agencies are doing the same.

Britain on Tuesday bowed to pressure and said it would offer screening to veterans of the Kosovo and Bosnian wars for signs of illness. But the government insisted that was an attempt only to reassure military personnel and not a sign that the government believed in a possible link between the tank-busting ammunition and cancer.

Armed Forces Minister John Spellar said the depleted uranium ammunition would remain part of Britain's arsenal. NATO has also rejected pleas by Italy and Germany for a moratorium on such munitions.

The potential health hazards come from inhaling or swallowing the dust created when the ammunition hits its target, and could lead to cancer from radiation decades after exposure, or kidney damage from metal poisoning.

Experts say it is unlikely that any cancer currently detected in Balkan veterans would be connected to depleted uranium because the disease would not have emerged so soon. Kidney damage would be expected earlier.

According to published excerpts of the leaked Ministry of Defense report, the army warned in 1997 that the risk of exposure to the ''hazardous'' uranium dust ''must be reduced.''

''Inhalation of insoluble uranium dioxide dust will lead to accumulation in the lungs with very slow clearance _ if any,'' the British media quoted the document as saying. ''Although the chemical toxicity is low, there may be localized radiation damage of the lung leading to cancer.''

The document warned that all military officials who come in contact with depleted uranium ''should be aware that uranium dust inhalation carries a long-term risk to health.'' It recommended that soldiers be issued with respiratory filters.

The opposition Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats called on government officials to explain the report's findings.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia _ The pro-democracy camp in Yugoslavia's main republic of Serbia on Wednesday awaited results of repeat voting in some districts that would confirm their overwhelming triumph last month over Slobodan Milosevic's once mighty Socialists.

Regardless of the outcome, there was no chance that the results from the 19 polling stations would jeopardize the pro-democracy camp's victory in the Dec. 23 vote.

Serbia's Supreme Court had annulled the results after extra ballots were found, following complaints of irregularities by the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party _ former allies of Milosevic and his party.

Polls Wednesday opened at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and closed at 8:00 p.m. (1800 GMT). Official results were not expected before the end of the week.

The repeat vote was the last obstacle before forming Serbia's new parliament and what is effectively the republic's first noncommunist government since 1945. A new Serbian government is expected to be formed later this month. Zoran Djindjic, an ally of federal President Vojislav Kostunica, is likely to become the new prime minister.

Although the federal government is already in pro-democracy hands, the Serbian elections were important as Serbia is the main Yugoslav republic and accounts for 90 percent of the two-republic federation's population and economy.

Milosevic was forced to step down as president of Yugoslavia after an Oct. 5 uprising caused by his refusal to accept results of earlier federal elections won by Kostunica.

But even after Milosevic's ouster some of his loyalists remained in high posts in Serbia's administration, thus preventing reforms.

In the Dec. 23 elections for the Serbian parliament, Kostunica's allies won 176 seats in the 250-member assembly. Milosevic's Socialists won 37, the ultranationalist Radical Party 23 and another ultranationalist group, founded by slain paramilitary and underworld figure Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan, 14.

Nato has announced a range of measures to try to allay concern over the health effects of depleted uranium ammunition.

But speaking in Brussels, the Nato Secretary-General, Lord Robertson, insisted that the fears were misplaced.

And he said Nato would not give in to demands from member countries, such as Italy and Germany, to suspend the use of the weapons.

Depleted uranium (DU) has been blamed for a number of leukaemia cases among former peacekeepers who served in the Balkans.

"We are confident that there is little risk from DU munitions, but we refuse to be complacent," Lord Robertson told journalists at Nato headquarters in Brussels.

"The existing medical consensus is clear. The hazard from depleted uranium is both very limited and limited to very specific circumstances," he argued.

But Lord Robertson accepted that Nato's assurances were not being accepted in many quarters.

The BBC defence correspondent, Jonathan Marcus, says Nato is embarking upon a full-scale action plan to try to minimise concern by disseminating and exchanging information on DU among allied governments.

A new committee to study further the effects of DU

Providing details of locations struck by DU weapons

Liaising with other international organisations

Co-ordinating research

Nato aircraft fired tens of thousands of DU rounds during Nato's 1995 bombing of Bosnian Serb targets and 1999 air war against Yugoslavia.

The rounds are denser than standard ammunition, making them more effective against armour.

Depleted uranium gives off relatively low levels of radiation, but can be dangerous if ingested, inhaled as dust or if it enters the body through cuts or wounds.

As a heavy metal, it is also chemically poisonous in addition to being radioactively poisonous.

Six Italian soldiers, five Belgians, two Dutch nationals, two Spaniards, a Portuguese and a Czech national have died after serving in the Balkans. Four French soldiers and five Belgians have also contracted leukaemia.

On Tuesday, US Defence Secretary William Cohen reiterated the position of both Washington and London that no link had been proven between depleted uranium and the cases of cancer among former peacekeeping troops.

Nevertheless, the UK Government has now agreed to the medical screening of its personnel in the Balkans, a measure already adopted by Italy, Portugal and other Nato allies.

And the European Union has launched its own investigation, which will include an assessment of whether spent DU shells pose any health risks for workers taking part in reconstruction programmes.

Earlier on Wednesday, Lord Robertson met the new Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic - the first Yugoslav minister to visit Nato headquarters since the alliance bombed Yugoslav forces in Kosovo.

The two sides agreed to share all available information about depleted uranium residues in the Balkans.

A Portuguese minister, meanwhile, said an independent Portuguese investigation had turned up no significant examples of increased radiation after studying 52 sites in Kosovo.

Russian politicians and generals say initial screening has found no illness among its soldiers who served in the Balkans.

KIEV, January 10 (Itar-Tass) - Communists in the Ukrainian parliament called for bringing Ukrainian peacekeepers back home following the scandal around the use of NATO ammunition containing depleted uranium in Yugoslavia.

Communist Party leader Pyotr Simonenko insists that military exercises involving NATO countries should be banned in Ukraine and NATO officials should be sent out of the country.

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, who visited Kosovo on Tuesday, spoke against using DU ammunition in the future. He stressed that this ammunition should be rejected as land mines were rejected.

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Jan 10 (Reuters) - U.N. staff and peacekeeping troops in Kosovo may consider marking or sealing off sites where depleted uranium munitions are known to have been used, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

NATO-led peacekeeping forces in Kosovo have a map showing 112 sites where depleted uranium weapons were fired during NATO air strikes in 1999, said spokeswoman Susan Manuel for the U.N.-led administration in Kosovo.

When the United Nations and NATO-led peacekeepers came to Kosovo in June that year, they felt they did not have the resources to find or mark the sites, Manuel told reporters.

``As it was explained to me by KFOR, they felt that they didn't have the resources to do that,'' Manuel said. ``But there may be a reconsideration of that decision now.''

Manuel said the U.N. was discussing the issue with KFOR.

Map references of sites where such ammunition was dropped can be up to 100 meters by 100 meters, making it hard to pinpoint and cordon off every spot, said Richard Kusak, a NATO spokesman in Kosovo.

Because depleted uranium was not considered dangerous in the past, marking the sites has not been a priority, Kusak said.

``There is no proof that there is a health hazard so far. There is a concern,'' Kusak said. ``There is no evidence it is dangerous.''

NATO used depleted uranium in armour-piercing shells during the military campaigns in the 1990s in Kosovo and Bosnia. The subsequent deaths of former peacekeepers from cancer have prompted some campaigners to suspect a link.

In Brussels on Wednesday, NATO insisted there was only a minimal health risk from the alliance's use of missiles coated with depleted uranium.

Moving to damp down a controversy that has swept through the 19-nation alliance, NATO pledged to do all it could to reassure troops and civilians.

Kusak told reporters in Pristina that up to 30 percent of depleted uranium sites in Kosovo are in minefields, which are already marked.

U.N. administrator Bernard Kouchner has called for independent humanitarian groups to look at the sites to see if there is a health hazard, Manuel said.

Kouchner has also been in contact with NATO Secretary General George Robertson ``several times a day'' on the depleted uranium issue. The U.N. Security Council will discuss depleted uranium at a special session Friday, she added.

BOROVAC, Yugoslavia, Jan 10 (Reuters) - People in this remote southern Serbian village say they live in fear after learning from media this month that a nearby stretch of land marked by a ribbon could pose a threat to their health.

Borovac, a tiny village of 150 people, has been cited by the Yugoslav army as one of six locations in southern Serbia near Kosovo which NATO bombed with depleted uranium-tipped weapons in its 1999 air campaign against Belgrade.

Villagers said the army had told them about the bombs and also marked the affected area but that they had not realised the extent of the possible danger until it became the number one topic on all television stations in recent days.

``When I heard about it on television blood froze in my veins,'' Budimka Mladenovic, 59, told Reuters this week. ``They say it will last for thousands of years!''

Controversy over the alliance's use of tank-busting shells, coated with depleted uranium (DU), has erupted after six Italian soldiers who served in the Balkans died of leukaemia.

Many other Balkan veterans have fallen ill, with a range of symptoms from cancer to fatigue and hair loss, prompting calls for increased medical screening and alliance-wide research.

NATO officials maintained there was no proven link between the munitions and cancer among Western peacekeepers.

In Belgrade on Wednesday, Serb officials said precautions had been taken in areas known to have been hit by the weapons in Serbia proper.

``Areas where DU has been registered have been identified, marked, unauthorised access has been prevented and de facto there is no realistic danger for the population,'' said Srpko Markovic, deputy director of the nuclear physics institute.

In Borovac, 29-year-old Sanja Janjic said the army had come to the village after the 1999 NATO bombing campaign to explain and to mark the place by a hill where a television transmitter was repeatedly targeted.

``As you can see all of this is above our heads,'' she said, pointing towards the hill. ``This that we have been listening to over the past five or six days about radiation is terrible.''

But Stanisa Mihajlovic, 27, a worker in a furniture plant in the nearby town of Bujanovac, said the army should have done a better job in marking the area and in making clear the risks.

``They have only put up some symbolic signs on the ground but that is nothing, and anyone who is inquisitive, and we all are, wants to take a look without knowing that their heads are at stake,'' Mihajlovic said.

``The only thing we are doing at the moment is not sending livestock there, but we cannot stop the winds or the water flows,'' he said. ``I know how dangerous this is but I wonder why this area has not been fenced off.''

Mladenovic Lidija, 22, said the authorities should do more to protect the villagers, expressing fear that drinking water may have been affected. ``Now we are thinking about what to do, how to make the state and the authorities see sense.''

Locals said the area had been targeted day and night during the bombing campaign because of the television transmitter and Yugoslav army positions nearby. The army has identified one day when depleted uranium was used on that location.

``I know that the whole hill was bombed and irradiated, the army has told us this, but what can we do, where should we graze our livestock, where should we drink our