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From: C-afp@clari.net (AFP / Angus MacKinnon)
Newsgroups: clari.world.europe.balkans,clari.world.organizations.misc,clari.world.europe,biz.clarinet.sample,clari.world.organizations
Subject: NATO adopts Kosovo force plan despite Belgrade opposition
Organization: Copyright 1999 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
Message-ID: <Qkosovo-natoURmBK_9FH.Rm3Y_9FH@clari.net>
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Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 7:44:40 PST
ACategory: international
Slugword: Kosovo-NATO
Threadword: kosovo
Priority: urgent
Approved: e.news@clari.net
Xref: news.cs.columbia.edu clari.world.europe.balkans:45416 clari.world.organizations.misc:15669 clari.world.europe:44306 biz.clarinet.sample:43763 clari.world.organizations:32983

  	  				 
   BRUSSELS, Feb 17 (AFP) - An operational plan that will enable  
NATO to put up to 6,000 troops into Kosovo within days of a peace 
deal in the province was approved here on Wednesday by ambassadors 
from the 16 allies, officials said. 
   The move came despite a warning from Yugoslav President Slobodan  
Milosevic on Tuesday that he will not accept the deployment of 
foreign troops in the southern Serbian province. 
   NATO officials said the plan was designed to ensure that the  
first elements of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) would be on the ground in 
Kosovo within hours of a peace deal that the international community 
hopes will be signed at Rambouillet, France on Saturday. 
   Within days, the strength of this advance guard will be brought  
up to between 5,000 and 6,000 men. 
   Around 3,000 of these troops will be US marines currently based  
in the Adriatic. They will be supported by some 2,300 men from 
NATO's French-led extraction force in neighbouring Macedonia and by 
airborne elements from the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) in 
Germany. 
   The Kosovo force is finally expected to number between 25,000  
and 30,000 men although a decision on this has not yet been taken. 
   Britain, France, Germany and Italy have already begun moving  
equipment and men towards the region in preparation for the 
deployment of what will be a European-dominated force. 
   It will be commanded on the ground by Britain's General Michael  
Jackson, who heads the ARRC and has extensive peacekeeping 
experience in Bosnia. 
   Overall command will remain with US General Wesley Clark, NATO's  
Supreme Commander in Europe. 
   Milosevic reiterated his opposition to foreign troops during  
four hours of talks late Tuesday with US Kosovo envoy Christopher 
Hill. 
   Belgrade's tough stance has increased pessimism about the  
chances of a deal being struck in France between the Serbian 
authorities and rebel Albanians, who are seeking independence for 
Kosovo. 
   "The signals are not encouraging but the international pressure  
for a deal is unanimous," a NATO official said. 
   The deployment of NATO ground troops is forseen in annex 1a of  
the draft peace accord on which the Rambouillet negotiations have 
been based. 
   The presence of an international force is seen as crucial to  
getting the Kosovar Albanians to settle for a package of substantial 
autonomy within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia rather than full 
independence. 
   The major western powers and Russia have set Saturday as a  
deadline for the Rambouillet talks to produce an accord. 
   If this does not happen, the US has warned that NATO will launch  
air strikes against Serbian targets, although it is not clear that 
all the allies will support such a course of action. 
   NATO officials said the alliance had learned important lesson  
from its experience in Bosnia, where it took 30 days from the 
signing of the Dayton peace accords to get the first elements of the 
Implementation Force in place and over two months for full 
deployment. 
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