UNEP AND IAEA EXPLORING DEPLETED URANIUM MISSIONS TO BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, YUGOSLAVIA AND IRAQ

UNEP AND IAEA EXPLORING DEPLETED URANIUM MISSIONS

TO BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, YUGOSLAVIA AND IRAQ

VIENNA/NAIROBI, 25 January (IAEA/UNEP) -– Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), have agreed to consider requests for fact-finding missions to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Iraq where depleted uranium (DU) was used during military conflicts.  The two organizations will coordinate their action with the World Health Organization, which has recently decided to send a team to study the health effects of depleted uranium in Iraq, as well as with other relevant United Nations system organizations.

Pekka Haavisto, Chairman of UNEP's Depleted Uranium Assessment Team, is meeting today with United Nations officials in Sarajevo for consultations on a possible future mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Mr. Haavisto will visit Belgrade tomorrow to meet with officials of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The IAEA is considering holding a training course to improve the understanding and skills of specialist staff from concerned countries.  The main focus will be on measurement methods and the assessment of risks from depleted uranium and other radioactivity.

The possibility of sending fact-finding missions to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Iraq follows last year's mission to Kosovo by the UNEP-led DU Assessment Team.  UNEP will wait for the scientific findings of the report of the Kosovo mission, expected to be released in early March, before it embarks on new DU field assessments.

For more information, please contact: 

UNEP Spokesperson Tore Brevik on tel: +254-2-623292,

Robert Bisset on tel: +254 2 623084 (mobile: 254-72520231), e-mail: robert.bisset@unep.org,

Nick Nuttall on 254-2-62338 (mobile: 254- 72745342), e-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org

Michael Williams on +41-22-9178242, +41-79-409-1528 or michael.williams@unep.ch. See also http://balkans.unep.ch.

IAEA:  Melissa Fleming,  m.fleming@iaea.org,  tel: 43-12600-

21275,  fax: 43-1-2600-29610.

* *** *