[ALBSA-Info] US May Send Spy Planes to Macedonia

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

US May Send Spy Planes to Macedonia

By ROBERT BURNS
  
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon is likely to approve a request by NATO's top 
commander to send more unmanned spy planes to monitor the Kosovo-Macedonia 
border where ethnic Albanian rebels have fought a four-week insurgency, U.S. 
officials said. 

Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, the supreme allied commander in Europe, told a 
Senate panel Wednesday that more unmanned aircraft are needed to provide 
Macedonian authorities - as well as U.S. and allied peacekeepers in Kosovo - 
with a clearer picture of rebel activity in the unmarked border area. 

U.S. defense officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Ralston's 
request was likely to require the approval of Defense Secretary Donald H. 
Rumsfeld, which he probably would give. 

American forces have been operating Predator unmanned reconnaissance aircraft 
over Kosovo for much of the time NATO has led peacekeeping operations there. 
Predators are capable of feeding real-time photographic images not only to 
U.S. commanders in the area but also to the Pentagon. 

Rumsfeld on Wednesday made clear that the Bush administration is sticking to 
a strategy of trying to help the Macedonian government deal with ethnic 
Albanian violence without expanding U.S. military involvement in the Balkans. 

Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference the administration has no plans to 
put troops in Macedonia or send more peacekeepers to Kosovo despite NATO 
calls for more international troop support. 

Rumsfeld said the administration is concerned about the violence in Macedonia 
but he indicated no sense of alarm. One of the themes of President Bush's 
campaign was that the Clinton administration had overcommitted U.S. military 
forces in the Balkans and that as president, he would try to pull back. 

Asked whether he believed the stability of Macedonia was a vital national 
interest of the United States, Rumsfeld said, ``Those are decisions that are 
made by the president of the United States.'' 

A few hours later a spokesman for the Albanian rebels offered a cease-fire, 
but it was not immediately clear how the gesture would affect the tensions. 

British Defense Minister Geoffrey Hoon, appearing with Rumsfeld at the 
Pentagon, spoke pointedly of the potential for escalating violence. ``We 
would not want to see Macedonia as another tinderbox,'' he said. 

Hoon said his government shares the U.S. view that the best approach, for 
now, is to assist the Macedonian government in its efforts to quell the 
violence, without introducing foreign troops. 

``Clearly it is a matter for Macedonia in the first place to resolve,'' Hoon 
said. He said Britain is sending more military advisers and would consider 
sending troops if Macedonia asked. 

Hoon made clear that Britain, like the United States, is reluctant to expand 
its military commitment in Kosovo, where an international peacekeeping force 
of about 20,000 troops - including about 5,600 Americans - has been 
patrolling since the end of the Kosovo war in June 1999. 

Asked about NATO's decision in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday to ask member 
countries to provide an extra 1,400 troops for the international peacekeeping 
force, Rumsfeld said the U.S. government is not considering additions. He 
also said he was not familiar with the details of NATO's decision. 

In a statement issued at NATO headquarters after a meeting of the alliance's 
governing North Atlantic Council, Secretary-General Lord Robertson said 
peacekeepers have recently increased their patrols along the border to 
disrupt the flow of men and weaponry into Macedonia. 

``A further review has shown such activities can be further increased, and 
more troops will now be sent to the border area,'' he said. 

In an appearance before the Senate Appropriation Committee's defense panel, 
Ralston argued against a NATO combat role in Macedonia and noted that the 
Macedonian government has not requested it. 

He said help should be limited to such things as intelligence and advice 
``for them to solve this problem which, by the way, is a political problem, 
not a military problem.'' 

On the Net: Kosovo peacekeeping at http://www.kforonline.com 

NATO at http://www.nato.int