[ALBSA-Info] "NATO Ministers Assess Yugoslavia"

[Uk Lushi]

>The Associated Press (Tue 10 Oct 2000)
>NATO Ministers Assess Yugoslavia
>
>BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) -- As the tumultuous events in Yugoslavia
>develop faster than diplomats can write cables, NATO defense ministers
>are trying to assess how the rapidly changing situation will affect
>security in the Balkans.
>
>Even as the 19-nation alliance welcomed the return to democracy in
>Belgrade, the major concern of the ministers meeting here Tuesday was
>how the new government of President Vojislav Kostunica will deal with
>Kosovo, occupied by 36,000 NATO-led troops who are supported by 10,000
>more in neighboring Macedonia and Albania.
>
>The ground forces from 39 countries intervened in Kosovo at the end of
>last year's 78-day NATO bombing campaign. The mission of the force is
>to provide security while the U.N.-directed civilian authority tries to
>build permanent peace in Kosovo, the southern province of Serbia,
>Yugoslavia's dominant republic.
>
>The situation in Kosovo isn't stable, NATO Secretary-General Lord
>Robertson acknowledged. Violence is down, but "we've still got a long
>way to go," he said.
>
>NATO also leads a force of 20,000 in the new state of
>Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ethnic hatred still seethes under the surface in
>Bosnia, but NATO considers the situation stable enough there to have
>reduced by two-thirds the 60,000-member force that originally entered
>the country five years ago.
>
>In Bosnia, NATO has the Dayton peace agreement as a framework upon
>which to build peace. In Kosovo, no such agreement exists. The majority
>ethnic Albanians in Kosovo have demanded independence, and it is by no
>means certain they will again submit to Serbian rule, no matter who the
>leader is.
>
>The Kosovo force is being beefed up by about 2,500 for municipal
>elections on Oct. 28. That involves four battalions from Britain,
>France, Italy and Greece.
>
>The defense ministers also are to talk about whether to hold out the
>NATO hand to Serbia or to let other organizations such as the European
>Union take the lead. There are few NATO admirers among the Serbs,
>particularly after the bombing, and some at NATO feel a low profile may
>be the best approach, at least in the short term.
>
>Adm. Guido Venturoni, chairman of the NATO Military Committee, and Gen.
>Joseph Ralston, the supreme allied commander in Europe, were to brief
>the defense ministers on the military situation in the Balkans.
>
>The ministers also were to examine the state of NATO's relations with
>the European Union as the 15-nation economic and political bloc begins
>to develop its own defense arm. The EU has pledged to establish a
>60,000-member rapid reaction force by 2003 and has been working with
>NATO in several areas.
>
>Relations with Russia -- which have been warming somewhat lately after
>a long hiatus that followed NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia
>-- also are high on the agenda of the ministers' annual informal
>meeting.
>
>Norwegian defense minister Bjorn Tore Godal was scheduled to speak
>about Norway's experience during efforts to rescue seamen aboard the
>sunken Russian submarine Kursk.
>
>In August, the nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea, taking 118
>men to their deaths. After some delay, Moscow sought NATO's expertise
>in trying to rescue the Kursk's sailors. A British mini-submarine and
>Norwegian deep-sea divers were dispatched to the Barents Sea, but it
>was too late.

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