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DECEMBER 18, 18:50 ET NATO Reduction Call Draws Concern By AIDA CERKEZ-ROBINSON Associated Press Writer Ivanov and Rumsfeld shake hands AP/Virginia Mayo [18K] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------- SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) - A U.S. call to slash the number of NATO peacekeepers in the Balkans provoked unease Tuesday among regional leaders and ordinary citizens over the stability of the region. While Afghanistan and the war on terror occupied the spotlight at the NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels, the Balkans were also on the agenda. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld proposed Tuesday that NATO cut its forces in Bosnia by up to a third because the depth of its Balkan involvement is placing a strain on armies needed to fight terrorism. NATO has nearly 60,000 troops in separate military operations in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia. According to officials, defense ministers will look at ways to streamline operations, eventually reducing their size. In Bosnia, personnel cuts may be as large as a third of the current 18,000. In 1995, NATO-led peacekeepers arrived in Bosnia to a still smoldering conflict and their presence is considered a deterrent to renewed violence. In Kosovo, they play a more direct role, including protecting minority Serbs. But in Macedonia, home to the most recent conflict, they are a sign of Western interest in peace implementation. Despite the different NATO missions, reaction from all three regions to the possibility of force reduction was overwhelmingly negative. According to a spokesman for Wolfgang Petritsch, the top international official in Bosnia, NATO is needed to make sure the achievements of the last six years are not lost. With top war-crimes suspects like Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his senior general, Ratko Mladic, still on the loose, NATO's job remained incomplete. Any streamlining ``must be based on a realistic assessment of the tasks which have still to be accomplished,'' according to his spokesman, Kevin Sullivan. On the street, Sarajevans also were opposed to any NATO cutback. ``Not one of them should leave,'' said Radmila Cvijetic, a 63 year-old retired nurse from Sarajevo. ``With them I feel safe and free.'' Waitress Senada Hasic declared: ``When they came, peace came. If they go, peace will go and then I'll go.'' Similar sentiments were expressed in another Balkan city - Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, where NATO bombing ended a bloody Serb crackdown on majority ethnic Albanians in mid-1999. The presence of more than 36,000 peacekeepers is a move to keep violence in check ``As soon as they start reducing the presence, it will make me feel really, really unsafe,'' said musician Agim Morina, 31. Naim Jerliu, a senior official of the Democratic League of Kosovo, the province's main ethnic Albanian party, also said ethnic Albanians ``wouldn't want to see a reduction of NATO's peacekeeping mission.'' In Macedonia, where little more than 2,000 NATO troops are deployed, worries are focused less on numbers and more on the symbolic meaning of any cutback. ``We hope that will not mean a change of U.S. interest in the region, particularly in Macedonia,'' said Stevo Pendarovski, an adviser to President Boris Trajkovski. NATO Reduction Call Draws Concern Rumsfeld Urges NATO to Shift Focus NATO Soldier Killed With Own Weapon Czech, Hungarian Plane Deals Irk US MORE NATO INFORMATION European Pilots to Protect US Skies U.S. May Reopen Afghan Embassy Text of NATO Article 5 Nations Press For NATO Expansion NATO Born in Tense, Fearful Climate Chronology of NATO's 50 Years List of NATO Members ON THE WEB NATO ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
