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| French Soldiers Drop into Kosovo |
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2004-10-07 10:57:44 |
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Several hundred French troops have parachuted into the Serbian province of Kosovo as part of a reinforcement of the Nato-led peacekeeping mission.
The 360 soldiers are some of the 2,000 additional troops who will be deployed ahead of parliamentary elections in Kosovo later this month.
The temporary troop reinforcement is aimed at preventing ethnic violence ahead of the poll.
Earlier this year, 19 people were killed in ethnic clashes.
The troops jumped from seven aircraft over Stanovce, 15 km (9 miles) north of Pristina, and landed in cornfields.
The French contingent, who will be joined by German and Italian troops, will stay in Kosovo for a month as part of the reinforcement operation. Their duties will include manning checkpoints and carrying out patrols.
Boycott
Colonel Yves Kermorvant, a spokesman for the Nato peacekeeping force in Kosovo, K-For, said "Operation Determined Commitment 2004" demonstrated Nato's rapid-reaction capabilities.
He said the goal was to provide a "calm period" for the people of Kosovo to allow them "to be able to vote without any pressure".
Soldiers "will be on the ground, to ensure that there is no interference in the vote", he said.
In the poll on 23 October, voters will choose candidates for the multi-ethnic assembly. The assembly holds some authority, but ultimate power remains with the United Nations mission in the province.
Serbian President Boris Tadic has urged Kosovo Serbs to reject appeals for a boycott by the government in Belgrade, which says Nato and the United Nations have failed to provide adequate security.
Last month, pressure group Human Rights Watch accused the UN and Nato of failing in their duty to protect the victims of ethnic clashes in Kosovo earlier this year.
Nineteen people were killed and hundreds of homes were torched in violence between ethnic Albanians and the Serb minority in March.
The Human Rights Watch report said the province's UN mission, which operates a 3,500-strong police force, and its 18,000 Nato-backed peacekeepers had not co-ordinated their response to the violence which swept the province.
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seeurope.net |
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The Event: SEEF 2004
