BELGRADE The head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies criticized here Friday the use of economic sanctions against states for political ends. Sanctions frequently impoverish most those who are already vulnerable whilst in the worst cases actually creating the possibility of greater wealth for those who find ways to exploit the situation through criminality and smuggling, Astrid Heiberg said at the end of a three-day visit to Yugoslavia. During her stay, Heiberg held talks with Yugoslav Prime Minister Radivoje Kontic and visited refugee camps and aid organizations in the north of the rump Yugoslavia made up of Serbia and Montenegro. Sanctions are a blunt instrument, damaging most those who are powerless to effect the political change the international community demands, she told journalists.

That is why the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies is calling on the international community to mitigate the effects of sanctions on the most vulnerable inside the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia through increasing financial support for the programs of domestic and international humanitarian organizations, Heiberg said. The appeal came 10 days after Contact Group countries seeking to avert conflict in states of the former Yugoslavia, decided to freeze Belgrade's assets abroad in order to pressure it to accept international mediation in the troubled Serbian province of Kosovo. The Contact Group composed of the United States, Russia, Germany, France, Britain and Italy, is due to meet on Saturday in London. With the exception of Russia which disassociated itself from the new sanctions against Belgrade, the participants have threatened to slap an investment ban on Serbia if no progress has been made by Saturday towards breaking the deadlock with Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.

(AFP)