More U.S. troops heading for Kosovo

March 30, 2000
Web posted at: 9:11 p.m. EST (0211 GMT)

In this story: U.S. wants Kosovars to keep their promise More U.S. armor for Macedonia RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON -- The United States will send reconnaissance troops to bolster patrols along the Kosovo border in Yugoslavia's troubled Presevo Valley region, the Pentagon announced Thursday.

Defense Secretary William Cohen signed orders Wednesday night to send a long-range surveillance company of 125 troops from the U.S. Army's 5th Corps in Germany to Kosovo for six months.

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The additional deployment will bring the number of U.S. troops in Kosovo to slightly more than 6,000, still below the Pentagon's authorized limit of 7,005.

U.S. forces in Kosovo are part of KFOR, the international peacekeeping force deployed in the Serbian province last year following an 11-week bombardment of Yugoslavia by NATO. The airstrikes were aimed at halting a Yugoslav crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in southern Serbia, one of two remaining republics of the former Yugoslavia.

The new troops will provide "additional eyes and ears" along the border area between the U.S. sector in Kosovo and the adjoining Presevo Valley area in Serbia, according to Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon.

"They have particular reconnaissance skills," Bacon said. "They can operate at night, they are prepared to operate for several days at a time in small groups, and that's what they'll do."

Bacon added that the troops will probably be supplemented by various communications equipment, as well as some vehicles, but "basically they operate on foot."

Thursday's military move was partly prompted by worries in Washington and allied capitals over activities by ethnic Albanian guerrillas in Kosovo and fears of clashes between Albanians and Serbs as winter nears its end.

The reconnaissance troops will work with unmanned spy planes recently deployed by the United States to patrol the region.

The United States said earlier this week that it was disappointed that ethnic Albanian guerrillas in southern Serbia appeared to have broken last week's agreement to renounce military action against the Belgrade government.

If violations continue, KFOR peacekeepers in neighboring Kosovo could take action against the guerrillas, who have trained in Kosovo but fight in the mainly ethnic Albanian Presevo Valley.

"The greatest concern to us is that the Kosovar-Albanians deliver on their promise to hand in their uniforms and to disarm the forces that are operating in the Serb area just outside of Kosovo beyond our sector," Bacon said.

The Pentagon also announced that 14 tanks and six artillery pieces will be sent to neighboring Macedonia, where about 450 U.S. support troops are based.

The tanks were left behind in Germany when a company from the 1st Armored Division was originally sent to Macedonia. The deployment of the tanks and artillery is in response to a request from the U.S. commander in Kosovo.

The Pentagon said the armor would allow the troops to train and provide an additional measure of protection, as well as send a signal to Yugoslavia.

"It will serve as a deterrent to any mischief that might take place along the borders of Macedonia," Bacon said.

The moves by the Pentagon Thursday came as the House narrowly defeated an effort to force withdrawal of U.S. peacekeepers already in Kosovo unless European allies start paying a larger share of efforts to restore civil order in the region.

The amendment, defeated by a 219-200 vote, would have withheld half of the $2.1 billion President Clinton sought for the current year to cover Kosovo peacekeeping costs until European allies started shouldering more of the peacekeeping burden.

If that did not happen by June 1, the money would have been available only to withdraw U.S. personnel from the region.

Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Yugoslavia:
  War against Yugoslavia
  Free Serbia Net!
  Serbian Renewal Movement
  CIA -- The World Factbook 1999 -- Serbia and Montenegro
  Federal Republic of Yugoslavia official site
      • Kesovo and Metohija facts
  Serbia Ministry of Information
  Serbia Now! News

Kosovo:
  Kosova Crisis Center
  Kosova Liberation Peace Movement
  Kosovo - from Albanian.com

Military:
  NATO official site
  BosniaLINK - U.S. Dept. of Defense
  U.S. Navy images from Operation Allied Force
  U.K. Ministry of Defence - Kosovo news
  U.K. Royal Air Force - Kosovo news
  Jane's Defence - Kosovo Crisis

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