-Caveat Lector-
>From AP
Security Council Shocked by Blast
By Nicole Winfield
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, May 8, 1999; 8:45 a.m. EDT
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The Security Council today
expressed shock and concern over the damage and
casualties caused by a NATO missile strike on China's
embassy in Belgrade.
China, Russia, Yugoslavia and their allies condemned
the incident as a ``barbaric'' attack that violated
international law and the Geneva Conventions
protecting diplomats. China called an emergency late
night meeting that continued until the early morning.
While apologizing for the loss of life, the United
States and its NATO allies countered that Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic bore the blame for any
casualties from the NATO raids because he had refused
to comply with international demands for a peaceful
settlement in Kosovo.
China's state-run news agency Xinhua said three people
were killed.
The sparring came during nearly five hours of tough
closed-door negotiations and sometimes acrimonious
public debate. The session indicated that the incident
was certain to complicate efforts to reach a peace
agreement in Yugoslavia.
China is a permanent member of the Security Council,
where the United States and Russia are seeking
approval of a Kosovo peace plan.
NATO spokesman Jamie Shea admitted the alliance had
hit the wrong building.
``We explained to the Chinese authorities this is an
accident. We offered our sincere regrets,'' Shea told
a morning briefing at NATO headquarters in Brussels,
Belgium.
NATO bombs were targeting a weapons warehouse that coordinates Yugoslavia's weapons
imports and exports, close to the Chinese Embassy during the heaviest night of bombing
in Belgrade.
Shea could not explain how the embassy was mistaken for the Yugoslav government
building.
Chinese Ambassador Qin Huasun said NATO should be punished for the ``indiscriminate
attack,'' and should also stop its air campaign immediately and unconditionally.
Yugoslavia's U.N. representative, Vladislav Jovanovic, said the bombing was not an
accident.
``This is one accepted crime by those who have decided to stage a total war against
Yugoslavia, against a part of Europe, against Europe as a whole,'' Jovanovic said.
``NATO would never target civilians and NATO would never target an embassy,'' Deputy
U.S. Ambassador Peter Burleigh told the council.
Burleigh urged council members to ``look at the big picture, and the big picture is
this: One man alone is responsible for this crisis ... and his name is Slobodan
Milosevic.''
An exasperated Russian Ambassador Sergey Lavrov rejected his claim, saying the ``big
picture'' was that NATO was exploiting a humanitarian crisis in Yugoslavia to
``destroy the present world order,'' which is based on int
ernational law and the charter of the United Nations.
Arriving in Germany on a trip aimed at finding a political solution to the conflict,
Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin sharply criticized the embassy bombing.
Chernomyrdin was expected to go to Belgrade to follow up on a proposed peace plan
worked out by the Western powers and Russia. Diplomats are hoping Russia, now taking a
stance closer to the West, would be able to exert pr
essure on Yugoslavia to accept a peace deal.
China called the emergency meeting, hoping to condemn what it called a ``barbaric''
NATO missile attack on its embassy as a ``serious violation of international law.''
Instead, a consensus statement reached after nearly three hours of closed-door
negotiations expressed the council's ``shock and concern'' over casualties and damage.
The statement, which carries no legal weight and is merely a reflection of the
council's thinking, expressed the council's sympathy and condolences to the Chinese
government and the families of the victims.
U.S. officials said they were pleased with the final statement. But they then had to
sit through an open council debate in which not only Yugoslavia's allies in the Kosovo
conflict but Iraq and Cuba, too, condemned Washin
gton.
Iraqi Ambassador Saeed Hasan said the attack on the
embassy was similar to the ``aggression'' Iraq was
suffering at the hands of Washington -- a ``pattern of
the American behavior which flouts international law
and the rights of nations and peoples.''
Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said it was
``deplorable'' that the embassy was hit. He said Japan
would work to find peace in the Balkans as soon as
possible.
Vietnam, a longtime rival of China with which it
fought a bloody border war in 1979, said the embassy
attack was a ``serious violation of international
law.''
The Southeast Asian nation called for an ``immediate
stop'' to the bombing campaign and a ``settlement of
the issue through negotiations.''
� Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
Now as I research my recollection for the specificity
of facts concerning embassy bombings, isn't there some
precedent for retaliatory actions against the
perpetrators of the bombings? (E.g., Kenya) There was
a book written some years ago, either Fahrenheit 451
or Failsafe {some 'F' book} in which an 'accidental'
bombing of a Russian city occurred; the behind the
scenes agreement included a tit-for-tat on New York.
A<>E<>R
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