U.N. backs Romania in canal dispute with Ukraine

PARSIPPANY, N.J.- A United Nations commission of inquiry has backed Romania in a dispute with Ukraine over a shipping canal in the Danube river delta, which separates the two countries, reported Agence France-Press on July 10. Since 2004 Romania has protested against the construction in the section of the Danube leading to the Black Sea canal in the environmentally sensitive area of the Danube delta.

The commission was established by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), headed by Dutch academic Joost Terwindt, with two scientific experts, one each from Romania and Ukraine.

These experts concluded that the canal could damage the habitats in the protected zone where fish and migratory birds breed. The dredging of the riverbed could result in sediment being deposited and then cast off into the sea, damaging the sea floor.

The two countries are also locked in a dispute in the International Court of Justice in The Hague over oil and gas deposits in the Black Sea.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 30, 2006, No. 31, Vol. LXXIV

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