[PEN-L:6190] (Fwd) YUGOSLAVIA SUES NATO IN WORLD COURT

[phillp2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (ts99u-1.cc.umanitoba.ca [130.179.154.224]) by]

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date sent:      	Thu, 29 Apr 1999 11:15:42 -0700
To:             	ccpa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From:           	Sid Shniad <shniad@xxxxxx>
Subject:        	YUGOSLAVIA SUES NATO IN WORLD COURT

The Associated Press					Thursday, April 29, 1999

YUGOSLAVIA SUES NATO IN WORLD COURT

	By Mike Corder

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- In an unprecedented legal
maneuver aimed at stopping NATO airstrikes, Yugoslavia filed
World Court cases against 10 alliance members today, claiming
their bombing campaign breaches international law.
	Yugoslavia also asked the 15-judge court, the United
Nations' highest judicial body, to demand an immediate halt to
NATO's campaign while the case is being considered -- a process
that can take years.
	An emergency hearing is likely to be scheduled early next
week to discuss Belgrade's request. Judges were believed to be
meeting today to discuss their initial reaction.
	''This morning, we filed proceedings against 10 NATO
members,'' Sanja Milinkovic, legal counsel at the Yugoslav Embassy
in The Hague, told The Associated Press. She declined further
comment and would not say which countries were named.
	An American Embassy official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, confirmed that the United States was one of the
countries named.
	The court, which has no enforcement powers and relies on
states to comply voluntarily with its rulings, declined to comment
on the case.
	A state has never before filed simultaneous cases against 10
other countries at the World Court.
	International law expert Terry Gill of Utrecht University in
the central Netherlands dismissed Yugoslavia's application as a
''public relations stunt'' designed to promote disagreement among
NATO nations.
	''There is some doubt among NATO states about the legality
of what they are doing, so something like this could cause
embarrassment,'' Gill said.
	Even if the court were to order a halt to airstrikes,
Yugoslavia would have to seek a U.N. Security Council resolution
ordering compliance if NATO refused to back down, Gill said.
	NATO began airstrikes against Yugoslavia on March 24 in
an effort to stop Belgrade's purge of ethnic Albanians from the
southern province of Kosovo.