Downing Street Says

» Thursday, March 18, 2004

Kosovo

In the light of the serious violence in Kosovo over the last couple of days, which had centred around Mitrovica and had then spread with attacks by the Albanian majority on the Serbian minority, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that Geoff Hoon had received a request this morning from the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), General James Jones, asking us to provide forces, since the UK was currently the NATO reserve for Kosovo. That request was being considered by the Chief of Defence Staff, Sir Mike Walker. An announcement would be made on that shortly. Asked if these troops were already in the region, the PMOS said that we had a small force there as part of our NATO responsibilities. These would be additional forces, 500 plus. It went without saying that we took our peacekeeping responsibilities in Kosovo seriously. Asked to clarify the process through which the decision could be made, the PMOS said that the Chief of Defence Staff was considering the request, with the MoD consulting with whoever was appropriate, including Downing Street. It would be an addition to an existing deployment. Asked if the request was problematic in the light of the ongoing British military presence in Iraq, the PMOS said that the Government would ensure that any deployments which had to be made would be consistent with our other obligations elsewhere in the world.

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Kosovo

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