http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=255772005
THE SCOTSMAN
Tue 8 Mar 2005
British battalion sent into Kosovo
A BRITISH Army battalion has been sent to Kosovo as the troubled province's
prime minister was charged with war crimes by the United Nations.
A total of 500 troops have arrived in Kosovo since yesterday after the UN
mission in the Serb province raised its security threat level to stage
black.
The troops have been deployed around the western town of Pec in western
Kosovo, which is the home of Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj. The PM
confirmed he would resign after his indictment was announced.
The UN advised its non- essential staff to remain at home in western Kosovo.
Stage black means only essential staff have to report for duty.
Haradinaj served as a commander of the ethnic Albanian rebel force, the
Kosovo Liberation Army, in the west of the province. Nato headquarters
decided to send the British battalion after assessing the security situation
in the province.
Kosovo, which officially remains part of Serbia, has been administered by
the UN and Nato since 1999, following the alliance's war aimed at halting a
crackdown by Serb troops on ethnic Albanian rebels. The chief UN war crimes
prosecutor has said on several occasions that former senior ethnic Albanian
rebels are being investigated over whether they committed war crimes in
their fight against Serb forces.
Meanwhile, a one-time ally of Slobodan Milosevic has become the first former
Yugoslav army officer charged over war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia in the
1990s. Prosecutors say the charges establish an important link between the
former Yugoslav army and separatist militias.
Former General Momcilo Perisic, 60, handed himself in to the UN war crimes
tribunal in The Hague yesterday.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
