THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 7, 1995 TAG: 9510070263
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Blend troops from more than a dozen countries. Get the Americans on board. Find a role for the Germans and the Russians. Disarm the Serbs. Rearm the Bosnians. Don't get anyone killed. And finish the job in a year.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has written itself a tall order for enforcing peace in the Balkans. And as dour ministers and glittering generals from the 16 NATO countries ended a two-day meeting here Friday, it was clear that the roughest part is ahead.
Even as a peace accord loomed with the promise of next week's cease-fire, the talks pointed up the enormous complexities NATO will face in fielding its peace-keeping force in shattered Bosnia.
``Achieving peace and stability in the Balkans is a daunting task,'' Secretary of Defense William J. Perry admitted Friday. ``But it is one that NATO is prepared to undertake.
``Success will be difficult,'' he said, ``but failure would be catastrophic.''
The logistics of deploying as many as 50,000 troops and their equipment aside, NATO also faces diplomatic and political obstacles that make its recent Bosnia bombing campaign look easy.
First of all, this will be the biggest NATO ground operation in history. Never before has a NATO force of the size contemplated been deployed, and, although NATO troops have trained for years, seldom have they worked in units so large.
Further, the NATO soldiers expected to go to Bosnia first will be members of a Germany-based NATO rapid-reaction force that just became operational this year. The force is led by a British general and can draw from, among other outfits, the American 1st Armored Division, and several multi-national divisions that include Greek, Italian and Turkish units.
Though the Clinton administration insists on American participation, it is not clear where Congress and the public might stand - especially if the operation starts to go bad.
The matter of German troops also will be delicate. No German combat troops will be part of the force, said Col. Joerg Meyer-Ricks, a German Air Force officer with NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe.
The reason? ``History,'' he said. The memory of Nazi brutality during World War II remains strong in the Balkans. German troops ``want to share the burden, but they don't want to create a new problem,'' Meyer-Ricks said. So they will play a supporting role.
Then there are the Russians, often seen as pro-Serb. Perry said Friday all the NATO ministers agreed that Russia ought to contribute to the force. Previously, NATO had insisted that Russians serve under NATO command, something the Russians had refused.
But NATO is searching for compromise. ``We will be as flexible and creative as possible,'' Perry said. ``But there will be a red line over which we cannot cross and that will be the red line of military effectiveness.''
Chiefly, he said, NATO will not allow split lines of military control.
Perry is scheduled to travel to Geneva Sunday for talks with his Russian counterpart, Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, on these issues.
However the plan comes out, it is certain to face serious - perhaps bloody - obstacles in the afflicted region. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Secretary of Defense William Perry, center, watches a deomonstration
of air power with NATO Secretary-General Willy Claes, right, on the
carrier Enterprise off the Virginia coast Friday.
by CNB