August 15, 2001. Copyright 2001. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

Operation ÒEssential HarvestÓ

LONDON, August 15, Graphic News: The first 300 British troops are expected to arrive in Macedonia by the weekend as part of a NATO peacekeeping force to collect weapons handed over voluntarily by ethnic Albanian guerrillas. 

Operation ÒEssential HarvestÓ will consist of 3,500 troops. Four subcommands will be led by Britain with additional brigades from France, Greece and Italy. The force will be commanded by DenmarkÕs Major General Gunnar Lange, NATOÕs senior officer in Macedonia.

The 30-day mission will establish 15 weapons collection sites with the help of Macedonian authorities. Weaponry collected mostly in the north and north-west of the country -- ethnic Albanian strongholds -- will be destroyed either on site or at a centralised location outside Macedonia.

Initially, Petrovec airport will be secured by forward elements of 3 Battalion, the Parachute Regiment and set up as HQ of the British 16th Air Assault Brigade with about 1,500 paratroopers. The headquarters of the other brigades will be at Kumanovo, north-east of Skopje; Krivolak, in eastern Macedonia; and the current German base at Zelino, six miles east of Tetovo.

Participating nations contributing troops or equipment include Germany, Spain, Turkey, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway and the Czech Republic. Organization of the peacekeepers from 12 nations will be handled by 800 U.S. logistics troops.

Members of BritainÕs SAS are already in Macedonia, charting ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army rebel lines in preparation for the task forceÕs arrival.

Nato already has nearly 3,000 troops in Macedonia, mostly serving as support for the alliance's mission in Kosovo.
/ENDS
Sources: JaneÕs Defence Weekly, Reuters