Wednesday, February 28, 2001

By Gregory Piatt
Belgium bureau

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Secretary of State Colin Powell reaffirmed America’s commitment to the alliance and its peacekeeping missions on Tuesday in a get-acquainted session with NATO foreign ministers.

Fresh from a trip through the Middle East, Powell joined with the 18 foreign ministers of the alliance in a special meeting of the North Atlantic Council, the ruling body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The council discussed the relationship between NATO and United States under the Bush administration, the military capabilities of its members and the Balkans peacekeeping missions, the alliance’s Secretary-General Lord George Robertson said.

Robertson dispelled any disputes that may have arisen between the new administration in Washington and the alliance over peacekeeping, Europe’s increasing role in its defense and the U.S. proposal to build a missile defense system.

Additionally, Powell reassured alliance members that despite an ongoing review of U.S. troops in the Balkans by Washington and NATO, the Bush administration would not abandon peacekeeping missions in the region.

"We went in together, we will come out together," Powell said during a press conference with Robertson.

The United States is committed to the success of peacekeeping in the Balkans, said Powell, referring to the 10,000 U.S. forces serving in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He said the United States would consult its allies before changing its role in the area.

"We are determined to meet our commitments to stability in the region, and we would avoid any steps that would jeopardize the alliance’s success so far," Powell said.

Meanwhile, Robertson announced that NATO is ready to start dismantling the three-mile wide buffer zone it established around Kosovo in 1999 to keep Yugoslav forces well away from its peacekeeping troops.

"We are preparing for a phased and conditioned reduction of the Ground Safety Zone," Robertson said. "We are still working on the details of how this will be done."

There has been a rise of violence in southern Serbia, particularly in the area adjacent to the U.S. sector in Kosovo. Ethnic Albanian extremists — who are not happy with the relationship between the West and the reformist Yugoslav government since the fall of the former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic — have used the area to stage attacks against Serbs.

The ethnic Albanians hope the violence will destabilize Yugoslavia’s newfound relationship with the West so they can join a swath of land in the Presevo Valley to Kosovo. However, the Serb and Yugoslav officials have developed a peace proposal that has been welcomed by NATO. But so far, the ethnic Albanians haven’t sat down to negotiate with the Serb and Yugoslav officials.

As its part of the bargain for reducing the zone and the violence, Yugoslavia should move quickly to implement measures to restore confidence among ethnic Albanians in the Presevo Valley region, Robertson said.

The Yugoslav Army would be allowed to go back into the zone when there are precautions in place and observers to watch what is going on, Robertson explained. But the zone would fall under the jurisdiction of the commander of KFOR, the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

Powell said he applauded NATO’s effort to reduce the zone and rid the area of violence.

"The extremists are the source of the problems in the Ground Safety Zone," Powell said.

However, Robertson wouldn’t commit to whether NATO troops would enter the zone if the conflict got larger when Yugoslav troops re-entered the valley.

"The responsibility falls with the extremists, and we call on them to stop the violence," Robertson said.

NATO has to keep watching and examining and then decide what military options are needed if violence escalates when the Yugoslav forces re-enter, Powell said.

"The U.S. will participate in whatever actions the alliance believes is necessary," Powell said. "But we hope to solve this without forces."

Back to February's stories
Page Two news roundup
Stories from January, 2001
Stories from December, 2000
Stories from November, 2000
Stories from October, 2000
Stories from August and September, 2000
Stories from June and July, 2000
Home