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British troops to help with Kosovo crackdown
Last updated: 30 Nov 2000 20:38 GMT (Reuters)

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - Two companies of
British soldiers will move to Kosovo's U.S.-led military
sector as part of a NATO plan to clamp down on
guerrillas operating around the provincial boundary, a
spokesman said.

The soldiers were part of the operational reserves of
the British peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo which
can be deployed around the province, said Flight
Lieutenant Mark Whitty, the spokesman for the
NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force.

Whitty said the move was part of a plan announced
by NATO Secretary-General George Robertson on
Wednesday to crack down on ethnic Albanian
guerrillas who operate in a five km (three mile) wide
buffer zone on the Serbian side of the boundary.

"We're putting more troops on the ground. These are
the actions that back up the words," Whitty told
Reuters. The exact size of a military company varies
but is normally somewhere in the region of 100
soldiers.

An upsurge in violence in the border area last week
left four Serb policemen dead, alarming both
Yugoslavia's new leadership and Western
governments hoping for an era of peace in the
Balkans after the downfall of Slobodan Milosevic.

Robertson unveiled a six-point plan on Wednesday to
reduce tension in the area, which included pledges to
increase reconnaissance and surveillance along the
boundary and increased monitoring of the situation
inside the buffer zone.

Belgrade insists the guerrillas are separatist terrorists
intent on joining the Presevo Valley area of Serbia
onto ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo. The guerrillas
say they are protecting local Albanians from
harassment by Serb police.

Whitty declined to say exactly what tasks the British
soldiers would have and when they would be
deployed.

KFOR has deployed reserve units to troublespots in
the past, sometimes using them to deal directly with
a crisis, other times to free up troops already based
in an area for new tasks.