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Enforcement of 1992-1995 U.N. Sanctions
The 1992-1995 U.N. sanctions were enforced by the joint NATO-Western European Union (WEU) Operation Sharp Guard, which began on June 15, 1993 and replaced the separate NATO and WEU operations Maritime Guard and Sharp Fence. For more than three years, NATO and WEU enforced both economic sanctions and an arms embargo. During Sharp Guard, no ships were reported as having broken the embargo. To achieve this result, during the period November 22, 1992 to June 18, 1996 about 74,000 ships were challenged, almost 6,000 were inspected at sea and more than 1400 were diverted and inspected in port. At the same time, the WEU inspected cargoes moving along the Danube River.
During Operation Sharp Guard no ships were reported as having broken the embargo. However, the U.N. sanctions were compromised to some degree by oil smuggling operations from border regions despite the best efforts of NATO and the WEU. The higher fuel prices available on a black market that was fueled by the U.N. sanctions encouraged actions to circumvent Operation Sharp Guard. In Albania, imported oil was shipped via pipeline across the northern border, by boat across Lake Shkoder, by caravans of cars with extra fuel tanks added, by donkeys carrying barrels of oil across mountainous regions, and by individuals selling canisters of fuel. As many as 200 boats were estimated to have carried oil across Lake Shkoder daily into Montenegro. The total oil flow was estimated to have brought Albania more than $1 million per day during 1993-1994, and Albanian refined product imports declined sharply in 1996, in part because of the end of the U.N. sanctions.
The Danube River was used by Greek and Romanian ships to smuggle oil into Serbia despite WEU efforts to intercept the oil and Romanian efforts to enforce the embargo. Barges were used to bring oil products from Russia and Ukraine. The volume of shipments along the Danube River attracted the interest of Serbian pirates who would cruise the Danube looking for fuel shipments to hijack.
Sanctions violations also occurred in Macedonia, where tank trucks carried fuel across the border Serbia, along with cars, tractors, and individuals with canisters. Tanker trains crossed over from Bulgaria, and Bulgarians crossed the border by car, bicycle, and foot carrying canisters of fuel. Romanian oil products arrived by highway, by ship, and by an underground pipeline from the Romanian oil facility at Timisoara. Cars were refitted to carry as much as 500 gallons of fuel, and tour buses were outfitted to carry 5 tons of gasoline each. Filling stations along Highway E-70, which passes through the Timisoara region, pumped 21,000 gallons of gasoline a day into buses, cars, and trucks crossing the border.
In Romania, NATO's decisions to impose an oil embargo resulted in a significant increase in car crossings into Serbia to sell gasoline. However, Romania agreed upon its own oil sanctions on April 29, 1999, with the sanctions taking effect on May 6. Customs officials have taken actions to deter smuggling into Serbia, and estimated that daily car traffic was limited to 60 cars.
On May 1, Romanian Transport Minister Traian Basescu dismissed Bulgarian claims that Serbian ships were transporting crude oil via the Danube River to Romanian refineries for processing, and returning with refined products. The Romanian denial noted that none of its ports on the Danube can unload crude oil from barges. The Bulgarian accusation came from the chief of customs at Bulgaria's Danube port of Vidin near the Serbian border, who said that 2 Serbian captains had acknowledged that their barges were carrying the crude oil to Romania for processing. Both Bulgaria and Romania have stated that they will not interfere with shipments originating from other countries because they are signatories of the Danube Convention (although Romania has also said that it would enforce the embargo).
Barges continue to transport oil along the Danube River into Serbia, including Russian oil being shipped from Ukrainian ports. Although the amount being shipped along this route is uncertain, the Danube River is believed to be the primary source of oil shipments into Serbia. NATO has attacked ports and bridges along the Danube River, and the destroyed bridges have limited the ability of barges to transport petroleum (although Greek representatives at the International Energy Agency have noted that low-draft barges could go around collapsed bridges). In an effort to further limit the amount of oil that can be brought in along this route, NATO has attacked oil storage sites along the Danube River such as the Prahovo facility.
Albanian oil smuggling has also resumed through the Lake Shkoder route. Albanian news reports have noted that tanker trucks, loaded with oil from Greek ships in the northwest Albanian port of Shengjin, were travelling to Shkoder. The amount of oil being brought to Shkoder was higher than the amount of oil normally consumed by this area, and Albanian police have taken measures to fight oil smuggling.
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File last modified: June 10, 1999
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