Sends letter to Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs
April 15, 1999
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ATLANTA - Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan has added a personal plea for the release of two CARE aid workers held for two weeks in Yugoslavia and reportedly facing charges of espionage.
Additionally, the president of the U.N. Security Council and Greece's foreign minister have issued statements calling for access to the two men.
Expressing "deep concern," in a letter dated April 13, Annan asked for immediate consular access to and the release of the two men. The letter went to Zivadin Jovanovic, federal minister for foreign affairs, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Steve Pratt,
49, and Peter Wallace, 31, were detained at the Yugoslav border
with Croatia at Lipovac on March 31. On Sunday, Pratt appeared on
Serbian television stating that he had used CARE as cover for intelligence
activities. CARE adamantly insists that the men are humanitarian
workers solely and never engaged in spying for any party. Pratt
was CARE's country representative in Yugoslavia and Wallace was
a project manager.
Greece's foreign
minister, George Papandreou, announced Wednesday that his office
will assist in securing consular access to the men and in efforts
to have them released. The Security Council expressed concern for
the safety of all humanitarian workers in the region and called
for access to Pratt and Wallace.
"CARE is
deeply gratified," says CARE USA President Peter D. Bell. "We
are outraged and alarmed at the holding of Steve and Peter. It could
endanger all aid workers on the borders and within Yugoslavia who
are answering the moral imperative to help hundreds of thousands
of refugees in the region."
President of
CARE International, Sir Harold Walker, said from London that the
aid community at large has an interest in the release of the CARE
workers. "I am most grateful to Mr. Annan. We are concerned
in the meantime that Steve and Peter receive fair treatment and
their rights under international law."
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