Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- http://www.praguepost.cz/news071101f.html The Prague Post Wednesday, August 29, 2001 "We have established security in the area and are ready to protect [NATO forces}." Adamec said that one platoon of Czech troops has also been put on standby so that it can be called in to protect NATO forces if they come under fire. Czech troops guard NATO base Havel praises alliance for quick action in Macedonian peace deal By Michael Mainville As sporadic violence continues in Macedonia, NATO soldiers, including a 120-strong contingent of Czech paratroopers, have begun the delicate process of disarming ethnic Albanian rebels. As part of a peace deal reached Aug. 13, up to 4,700 NATO troops are to spend 30 days collecting weapons from the National Liberation Army (NLA) of ethnic Albanian fighters. NATO officials have said they expect to collect about 3,300 weapons from the rebels, a number disputed by Macedonian government officials, who say the rebels possess as many as 80,000 weapons. The peace deal brought relative calm to the small, landlocked country, which has been ravaged by six months of fighting between the rebels and government forces, but it did not bring an end to all violence. On Aug. 26, a bomb exploded in a Macedonian-owned hotel near Tetovo, killing two men, a barman and a waiter. NATO also suffered its first casualty the same day, when a British soldier was killed by a piece of concrete thrown by a gang of youths. The concrete crashed through a window of the NATO vehicle the soldier was driving. President Vaclav Havel, who in the past has been critical of NATO's tentative approach to peacekeeping in the former Yugoslavia, praised the alliance for moving swiftly. In a statement issued Aug. 22 -- the day NATO decided to send soldiers into the embattled region -- Havel said the alliance has avoided the mistakes it made in Bosnia and the Serbian province of Kosovo. "It has learned a lesson from various recent crises in the Balkans where long hesitation resulted in tremendous human cost," he said. Keeping the peace Czech participation in peacekeeping missions in the Balkans 1993 500 Czech troops take part in the United Nations UNPROFOR mission in Croatia and Bosnia. During the next three years, more than 3,000 soldiers participated in the mission. 1995 865 soldiers take part in NATO's IFOR mission, aimed at implementing the Dayton Agreement in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 1996 A 600-strong contingent of Czech soldiers is stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina as participants in NATO's SFOR stabilization mission. 1999 The Czech Army commits a unit of 175 troops to NATO's KFOR mission in Kosovo. 2001 A unit of 120 paratroopers is assigned to guard NATO headquarters during Operation Essential Harvest in Macedonia. The rebels agreed to the deal in exchange for official recognition of the Albanian language and promises to change the makeup of police and other official groups to more accurately reflect the ethnic makeup of the country. Albanians constitute about 23 percent of the population; Macedonian Slavs, about 66 percent. In the days before NATO formally approved the mission, dubbed Operation Essential Harvest, an advance team of 400 British and Czech troops arrived in Macedonia to prepare. The 120 Czech paratroopers are charged with guarding the operation's headquarters, which is about 15 kilometers (9 miles) east of the Macedonian capital, Skopje. Reached in Macedonia on Aug. 24, the Czech unit's deputy commander, Jiri Adamec, said there was little chance the base would come under attack. "We have established security in the area and are ready to protect [NATO forces]," he said. "But [the base] should not be in any danger." Adamec said one platoon of Czech troops has also been put on standby so it can be called in to protect NATO forces if they come under fire. The platoon, working with U.S. helicopter pilots, is on alert 24 hours a day. Adamec said almost all of the Czech paratroopers in Macedonia are experienced in NATO peacekeeping missions, having served in either the KFOR mission in Kosovo or the SFOR mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
