Subject: US troop pull out from Kosovo would be premature: UN, UNHCR, OSCE
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 7:20:10 PDT
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
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PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Oct 23 (AFP) - The leaders of Kosovo's
international community warned Monday that any pull-out of US
peacekeeping troops from the province, as proposed by aides of
presidential candidate George W. Bush, would be premature.
A spokeswoman for Bernard Kouchner, Kosovo's chief UN
administrator, said: "Dr Kouchner has said many times, and again
last week, that this is not the time to withdraw military
strength."
Daan Everts, head of the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation's mission in the province, echoed this view.
"The international presence is of course very, very much needed
for members of the community to feel minimally secure," he said, "It
would really be too early to make any clear moves towards an exodus
of the internationals and that would be a very discouraging signal
at the moment."
Eric Morris, head of the Kosovo mission of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, said that the KFOR peacekeeping force had
been committed to protect minorities living in Kosovo by the UN
Security Council resolution which gave them their mandate, and that
it was too soon for them to leave.
"It's incumbent of the international presence, both civil and
military to live up to their commitments," he said.
All three were speaking at a news conference in Pristina,
responding to a question on a statement by Condoleeza Rice, Bush's
senior foreign policy advisor, that if a Republican administration
were to be installed in the White House after US elections on
November 4 the US presence in Balkans peacekeeping operations would
be phased out.
With 5,736 troops, the US commitment to Kosovo's 40,000 strong
KFOR peacekeeping force is the largest of the 39 nations present, a
military spokesman said.
KFOR has been responsible for security in the province since
June last year when a NATO bombing campaign forced Yugoslav troops
to withdraw.
The force's main responsibility, apart from deterring Yugoslav
forces from returning, is to provide security for Kosovo's embattled
minorities who face daily acts of intimidation and violence.