Subject: US withdrawal from Balkans would engage EU: Greek minister
Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2000 16:05:15 PST
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
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ATHENS, Dec 23 (AFP) - The withdrawal of US soldiers from the
Balkans, as suggested recently by an incoming US security official,
would place great responsibility on the European Union, Greece's
foreign minister said Saturday.
"Absence of the United States in the Balkans implies a great
responsibility for the EU, which must prove itself capable of
managing such problems successfully," Georges Papandreou told the
Greek news agency MPA.
The foreign minister revealed that Condoleezza Rice, named as
national security advisor to president-elect George W. Bush, told
him that "US military forces are designed for large military
operations," but are not trained for peacekeeping missions such as
the one in Kosovo.
Rice said on Monday that Bush's government could re-evaluate the
US military presence in the Balkans, after consulting with allies in
the region.
But the US armed forces chief, General Henry Shelton, warned
last week that the volatile region could slip back into civil war if
US peacekeeping troops were withdrawn.
"Greece seeks the presence of peacekeeping forces in Kosovo,
especially given the problem of the region's autonomy status which
was not resolved within the framework of UN resolution 1244,"
Papandreou stressed.
That resolution paved the way for NATO-led peackeeping troops to
deploy in the southern Yugoslav province.
Soldiers from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have
been stationed in Bosnia for five years, and in Kosovo since June
1999.