Balkan peace force tops Nato agenda
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Your support makes all the difference.The future of the Bosnian peace-keeping force after the Nato mandate expires on 20 December will be top of the agenda at today's Nato meeting in Bergen, Norway.
The 16 Nato defence ministers are joined by their Russian counterpart, General Igor Rodionov, as they also discuss which East European countries will be the first to join Nato in 1999 and plans to restructure the alliance.
Ministers will try to reassure Russia about Nato's expansion, although Russia's security chief, Alexander Lebed, remains resolutely opposed to expansion and is threatening economic retaliation if it takes place.
The Bergen meeting will shape proposals for a new "charter" governing relations between Russia and the Alliance, for Nato restructuring - which must take place in parallel with enlargement - and for the future of international involvement in Bosnia. Final arrangements for a follow-on force in Bosnia (Fo-For) will be confirmed at a conference in London in December. But the most crucial issue - what it is supposed to do - will be discussed in Bergen.
Nato and Russia will begin this morning with the international peace force in Bosnia, I-For. Plans to replace it with a smaller 20,000-strong force are well advanced, and on Monday the MoD announced that a British lieutenant-general, Roddy Cordy-Simpson, would be deputy commander of Operation Joint Endeavour, as the follow-on force will be called. It is likely that the international community will "certify" the validity of the Bosnian elections on Sunday. Once Bosnia has a "certified" government - however dubious the elections were - the international community will have to ask its permission to maintain a presence in Bosnia after 20 December. Unless it wants another war, the Bosnian government is likely to accede.
Defence sources said the ministers meeting at Bergen would discuss several missions for Fo-For. The basic task of I-For - separating the former warring factions - was a success, and any follow-on force would be there primarily to back up civilian reconstruction.
This afternoon, ministers will discuss Nato's "adaptation" to the new world order, which involves a dramatic reduction in he number of Nato command headquarters, from 67 to nearer 30. Tomorrow, ministers are likely to decide which East European countries will receive invitations in the spring to join Nato by April 1999. Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary are the favourites.
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