ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 1, 1996 TAG: 9604010137
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: TUZLA, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
For the first time, U.S. troops will provide security and other limited support this week for U.N. war-crimes investigators, the commander of the NATO-led peace force in Bosnia said Sunday.
Adm. Leighton Smith told reporters he did not expect any major confrontations when investigators from the U.N. War-Crimes Tribunal search for mass graves and other evidence of atrocities near Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia.
The U.N. search, which is expected to start Tuesday, will be in Serb territory at sites of alleged massacres of thousands of Bosnian Muslims last summer.
``There may be some demonstrations,'' Smith said. ``This obviously is a very emotional issue. But I don't anticipate that there will be problems'' for the U.S. troops.
Smith was escorting Defense Secretary William Perry on a visit with U.S. troops at Comanche Base, just west of Tuzla, where attack helicopters of the 4th Aviation Brigade are based.
Perry later flew to Sarajevo, where he met with NATO commanders and acting Bosnian President Ejup Ganic. He then flew to Albania.
Asked about providing security at Srebrenica, he told reporters he fully supports Smith's plan, but he mentioned no details.
Smith initially was reluctant to discuss specifics of the Srebrenica plan. Pressed for details, he said U.S. officers would provide a liaison team that could, if an emergency arose, immediately call on U.S. firepower in the area. Some emergency medical support also will be provided, as well as possible lodging for the U.N. investigators, the admiral said.
Smith was adamant that this did not reflect a change in policy. He mentioned that the NATO-led force in Bosnia had provided similar support for war-crimes investigators in the sector of Bosnia being monitored by British forces. This is the first time, however, that U.S. forces have done so, Smith said.
``We will not guard grave sites, we will not exhume bodies, we will not provide individual security,'' he said. The idea is to secure the roadways in the vicinity of Srebrenica and to be available in case the investigators get in trouble.
Army Col. John Batiste, commander of the U.S. Army 2nd Brigade, whose forces will be involved in this week's operation at Srebrenica, said in an interview later that it probably would last about two weeks, and that the U.S. troops would deploy in Bradley fighting vehicles and other armored vehicles.
Smith would not say how many U.S. soldiers would be involved, but a senior defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it would be between 100 and 200.
At a joint news conference after their talks in Sarajevo, Perry and Ganic were asked whether they thought there could be peace if two men indicted for war crimes, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief Ratko Mladic, remained in power, and whether the NATO force would remove them.
``There can be no elections that would mean anything with Karadzic and Mladic present,'' Ganic said. ``[The Implementation Force] military is capable of removing those two war criminals. We're begging them to do that.''
Perry said: ``I do not expect either Karadzic or Mladic to be in positions of power by the end of this year.''
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