Subject: Russia asks UN Security Council to lift Yugoslav arms embargo
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 17:40:13 PST
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
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UNITED NATIONS, Nov 29 (AFP) - Russia submitted a draft
resolution to the Security Council on Wednesday calling for an end
to the UN arms embargo imposed on Yugoslavia in March 1998 to halt
the repression in Kosovo.
The draft resolution, which applies to all parts of Yugoslavia
including Kosovo itself, would maintain the embargo on sales of arms
and military equipment not intended for the use of the Yugoslav
government.
Russia has accused the UN administration in Kosovo of bias in
favour of the ethnic Albanian majority, which it says has carried
out murderous acts of revenge against the few remaining Serbs in the
province.
Russia takes over the rotating monthly presidency of the
Security Counil on Friday and is expected to schedule a debate and
vote on its draft in the near future.
Diplomats who took part in Wednesday's council consultations
said the resolution had the support of China.
But they said Britain and France noted that even the new
government of Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica had not yet
asked for the embargo to be removed.
The fifth permanent member of the council, the United States,
did not comment on the draft resolution, they said.
The embargo was imposed on March 31, 1998, two months before the
start of NATO's air war to drive Yugoslav forces out of Kosovo.