U.S. troops to protect Serbs in Kosovo
By John Phillips
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 21, 2007
BELGRADE, Serbia -- The United States has moved troops to northern Kosovo to
protect the Serbian minority ahead of elections today in Serbia, where
nationalists have pledged to prevent the province's ethnic-Albanian majority
from obtaining independence.
Two U.S. military platoons, accompanied by one Austrian and one Georgian
platoon were deployed in late December for a month to a NATO camp at
Leposavic, close to the border with Serbia, Kosovo's peacekeepers'
headquarters announced. The redeployment was part of NATO's plan for rapid
intervention aimed at providing security for about 100,000 Serbs living in
Kosovo.
A U.N. civil administration mission and about 16,000 NATO protection
troops have been in Kosovo to curb ethnic conflicts since 1999, when an
Allied bombing campaign expelled Serbian forces.
The war ended a wave of brutal ethnic cleansing against the Kosovar
civilian population by Serbian then-President Slobodan Milosevic's regime.
In the Kosovo capital of Pristina, leaders of ethnic Albanians, who make
up 90 percent of the province's population of 1.8 million, insist on
independence. Serbia Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has said Kosovo will
be part of Serbia and the historic cradle of Serbian culture forever.
After the election, Kosovo is expected to be offered limited
independence from Belgrade.
The latest rotation of about 1,500 U.S. troops under Brig. Gen. Douglas
Earhart, commander of the U.S. Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Division
and of Kosovo Forces Multi-National Task Force (East) moved into position in
Kosovo last month. Most are Guard troops from Virginia, Massachusetts, 20
other states and Puerto Rico.
The United Nations late last year delayed a recommendation by the U.N.
special envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, on the future status of Kosovo
so as not to prejudice the Serbian elections.
NATO said last week it is unlikely to reduce troop levels in the
province until 2008. NATO has 16,500 soldiers from 35 countries deployed in
Kosovo.
"We will maintain our mandate, our strength, our organization on 2007,"
Lt. Gen. Roland Kather, the German commander of NATO's Kosovo force, said at
a press conference. "I think that there will be no change until early 2008,
and then we'll have to look at how far we have come."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20070120-113212-1814r.htm
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
