25 Sep 2007
NATO handed over today to Serbia's Special Envoy to NATO, in response to a request by Serbia, a consolidated list with target coordinates and numbers of units of cluster munitions used during the 1999 air campaign in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The request for these data was made by the Serb authorities, supported by Norway, through a letter dated 13 February 2007.
The list of target data includes about 218 sets of coordinates of which some 155 are within Kosovo. About 1080 cluster munitions were used during the campaign.
The data are intended for use by the Serbian Centre for Demining in the context of a survey it intends to conduct to locate the unexploded cluster ordnance as a basis for clearance plans. The survey will be conducted with the asisstance of a Norwegian NGO.
NATO stands ready to continue to assist the Serbian authorities in their efforts to deal with unexploded ordnance.
While supporting the survey to locate the unexploded cluster ordnance in Serbia, neither NATO nor individual Allies take any potential responsibility or liability with respect to the survey and to incidents or accidents that might have occurred or could occur in future in relation to unexploded ordnance.
The data provided to the Serb authorities today supplement other information on targets and munitions already made available in the past, in particular the grid locations of depleted uranium ordnance expended during Operation Allied Force. Data regarding targets within Kosovo has also been shared with the United Nations in the past. Since 1999, NATO and KFOR have been working closely with the United Nations in Kosovo, where the task of clearing unexploded munitions is primarily the responsibility of the UN, supported by a number of non-governmental organisations.
