Schroeder calls for Kosovo
fuel crackdown, paper
05:18 a.m. Apr 18, 1999 Eastern
WASHINGTON, April 18
(Reuters) - German chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder wants NATO
to do a better job of cutting the
flow of fuel and capital to
Yugoslavia, The Washington Post
reported on Sunday.
In an interview with the
newspaper, Schroeder said
unnamed NATO members had
failed to stop oil and gas deliveries
to Yugoslavia through its territory.
He appeared to be referring to
Hungary, which joined NATO on
March 12.
''There are still supplies of fuel
reaching (Serbian President
Slobodan) Milosevic by sea and
land, and they are not being
stopped by NATO members. This
is unacceptable,'' said Schroeder.
Hungary had balked at allowing
Russia to send Yugoslavia an aid
convoy, including diesel fuel,
through its territory but said on
April 12 that it would let the
convoy proceed.
''We have to tighten our grip a
little,'' said Schroeder. ''It is not
acceptable that there is business
with Milosevic while our soldiers
are risking their lives.''
Schroeder, who was elected in
February, told the newspaper that
Germany may have a special
obligation to end the killing and
expulsions of ethnic Albanians in
Kosovo.
Since Adolf Hitler and the Nazi
Party tried to cleanse Europe of
non-Germans during World War
II, he said, ''we are now under a
moral obligation to help stop new
atrocities (from) being committed
there.''
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. |
