NATO Says Extraction Force in Macedonia No Threat to Belgrade [Reuters report]
Macedonia is Macedonian = Logic
NATO Says Extraction Force in Macedonia No Threat to Belgrade [Reuters report]
BRUSSELS, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Yugoslavia has no grounds for creating tension
with its neighbour Macedonia over a NATO force to be deployed close to their
border for use in Kosovo, alliance sources said on Friday.
"The notion that a NATO force of less than 2,000 troops can threaten
Yugoslavia's security is ridiculous," a NATO source said.
Macedonia said this week it had asked the Atlantic alliance to intercede with
Belgrade, which summoned the Macedonian envoy on Sunday to protest against
its hosting NATO's rapid reaction units as a "hostile act."
"We are concerned about these declarations," the source said, "but we don't
expect such hiccups to be a real problem."
NATO is finalising plans for an air-mobile "extraction force" of about 1,800
to protect and if necessary bring out international observers from Serbia's
southern province of Kosovo in an emergency.
The allies expect forward elements of the Macedonia mission, Operation Joint
Guard, to be in place by the end of this month or early December. With
renewed clashes threatening the truce in Kosovo, speedy deployment of the
observers and their over-the-border protectors is becoming ever more
pressing.
Deployment of the troops, under an accord negotiated with Belgrade six weeks
ago, has been held up by the slow withdrawal of Serb troops in Kosovo and
logistical problems.
An election which changed the government of Macedonia added to complications,
but the new centre-right administration taking shape in Skopje is not expected
to reverse its agreement to host the NATO force.
The unarmed Kosovo observer mission, expected to total 2,000 monitors when
fully deployed, is led by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) and backed by unarmed NATO surveillance aircraft.
France is to supply the bulk of the extraction force, made up of European
NATO troops under the command of French general Marcel Valentin and designed
to reach threatened, injured or trapped observers in Kosovo within an hour or
two.
The allies called off air strikes three weeks ago after Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic began withdrawing some of his troops and special police
used to smash an insurrection by the separatist ethnic Albanian Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA).
But Yugoslavia still maintains a force of 25,000 well-armed troops and police
in the province, where over 1,000 have been killed this year. NATO says
security is again deteriorating due to incidents provoked by both sides in
recent days.
In a statement on Thursday, the Alliance said the sharp increase in tension
could wreck Kosovo's shaky ceasefire and jeopardise the verification mission.
Two Serbian policemen were killed in Kosovo when suspected ethnic Albanian
separatists attacked a police vehicle on Friday near the western town of
Decani, Serb sources said.
NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Wesley Clark, had planned to
visit Macedonia in the next few days to discuss deployment with the new
government, likely to be headed by Ljubco Georgievski. But Clark's office
in Mons, Belgium said the trip was delayed by scheduling clashes.
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