BosNet News: Nato Leaders Reject Plan to Fore on Ship That Defies OIl Embargo
Steve Albert
B o s N e t -May 5, 1999
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NYTimes May 5, 1999
NATO Leaders Reject Plan to Fire on Ships That Defy Oil Embargo
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
WASHINGTON -- NATO's political leaders have overruled a draft proposal by
the alliance's senior commander to fire on ships that defy an oil blockade
against Yugoslavia, raising questions about how effectively it could be
enforced, officials said on Tuesday.
Although many countries are honoring the blockade, oil continues to arrive
in Yugoslavia by sea.
President Clinton and his NATO counterparts agreed to impose a blockade
during their summit meeting in Washington 10 days ago. But some European
allies, including Germany and France, objected after the supreme allied
commander, Gen. Wesley K. Clark, submitted an enforcement plan last week
calling for NATO warships to fire on tankers that defy requests to be
searched.
Those allies have argued that the ban be made voluntary, saying that the
European Union's decision to stop selling oil to Yugoslavia, effective May
1, would shut down the flow of oil by stigmatizing violators.
Since the European Union's ban took effect, however, a Greek-owned tanker
already defied it over the weekend at the Montenegrin port of Kotor Bay,
which is tightly controlled by Yugoslavia's Navy, according to one defense
official.
The tanker, registered under the Maltese flag and called the J.N.D.
Friendship, is believed to have delivered nearly 20,000 barrels of gasoline
or diesel fuel, which NATO says is critical to Yugoslavia's war effort.
Officials said they expected more shipments in the days and weeks ahead. In
April, there were 11 shipments, including one Russian tanker with more than
100,000 barrels.
At NATO's headquarters in Brussels, officials continued to debate on
Tuesday how to set up a "visit and search" embargo program that would
intercept vessels suspected of carrying fuel, but would stop short of
actually firing on them, either as a warning or to disable the ships.
"It really comes down to force," one NATO official said. "Do we ask them,
'Do you mind if we board?' or do we ask first but then say, 'You're not
going to stop us.' General Clark wanted to have more teeth in it."
The political wrangling over the naval blockade came as American and NATO
warplanes conducted another intense day and night of bombings, striking 81
targets across Yugoslavia, including oil storage tanks and armored forces
operating in Kosovo, said officials here and at NATO's headquarters in
Brussels.
For the first time since the campaign's opening days, an American F-16CJ
shot down a MiG-29 on Tuesday in what officials described as a short-lived
air-to-air confrontation. The American pilot intercepted the MiG, one of
Yugoslavia's top fighter jets, as it flew toward a squadron of allied
aircraft that had just completed an attack near the military airfield at
Batajnica, the officials said.
NATO jets have now shot down six Yugoslav fighters and destroyed dozens
more on the ground, including another MiG-29 and two other aircraft at the
Batajnica airfield overnight. NATO estimates that six weeks of attacks have
destroyed the bulk of the Yugoslav air force.
Taking advantage of the longest spell of good weather since the air war
began on March 24, warplanes again flew more than 600 missions.
For the first time, B-52's flew over Yugoslavia to attack an airfield with
54 500-pound bombs that rely on gravity, rather than the laser- or
satellite-guided "smart" missiles. Until now, the B-52's had fired cruise
missiles from some distance outside of Yugoslav air space.
The intensification of NATO's air war has resulted in increased reports of
civilian deaths, including those killed when a NATO warplane attacked a bus
on Saturday. However, NATO denied Yugoslavia's claims that a second bus was
destroyed by a missile on Monday near the town of Savine Vode in Kosovo,
west of Pec, killing 20 people.
NATO's spokesman, Jamie P. Shea, said commanders had reviewed that day's
raids and found no evidence that a NATO plane had attacked any vehicles in
the area.
The debate over the embargo has underscored the political limitations
placed on NATO's military campaign. From the start, disrupting Yugoslavia's
ability to refine oil into gasoline and diesel fuel has been a major
objective. NATO has already destroyed the country's two main refineries, at
Pancevo and Novi Sad, and continues each day to hit storage tanks and
oil-related targets.
But with some 450,000 barrels of oil arriving at ports in Montenegro in
April, Clark argued that a naval blockade was needed to cut off
Yugoslavia's ability to receive refined oil products by sea.
Within NATO, the United States has argued that a blockade is justifiable
under international law as a means of depriving an enemy of war materiel.
However, a number of allies have argued that without a formal declaration
of war between NATO and Yugoslavia, a blockade could only be binding if
authorized by the United Nations.
Clark's draft proposal would have allowed allied warships to intercept any
vessel suspected of carrying oil into one of Yugoslavia's two main ports,
at Bar and at Kotor Bay, according to NATO and Pentagon officials. The
allied commanders would then ask to board and review the manifest, after
which they could ask those found to be carrying oil to go elsewhere.
The allied warships, under Clark's plan, would be able to fire at those
who refused to turn around or stop, first as a warning and then to disable
the vessels, the officials said.
Although American and NATO navy commanders have said a blockade would be
relatively simple to enforce, the idea has raised fears of a confrontation
with ships from other countries, particularly Russia, which has vowed not
to honor it. Some of the allies believe that a confrontation could upset
Russia at a time when its envoys are acting as intermediaries between NATO
and Yugoslavia.
"There is a view that it could be counterproductive right now," the NATO
official said.
Shea, NATO's spokesman, said on Tuesday that the alliance could begin
plying the Adriatic in search of violators soon. He noted, though, that the
European Union's embargo was being joined by other countries, including
Hungary, which had agreed to turn off a pipeline into Yugoslavia.
"If oil is not leaving, then oil is not arriving, and a visit-and-search
regime, albeit important, becomes less important," Shea said. "And we have
had an enormous success in the wake of the Washington summit at making sure
that the oil doesn't leave in the first place."
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