The Kosovo Conflict - Part Three
Bridge over the Ibar, connecting the Serbian and Albanian parts of the city of Kosovska Mitrovica.
Peter Padley
September 02, 2010
NATO’s ARRC (Allied Rapid Reaction Corps), under the command of Lt General Sir Mike Jackson, were ready to move into Kosovo as and when agreement was reached that Yugoslav combat troops would withdraw from Kosovo. The Russians, having played a crucial role in persuading Milosevic to meet the terms of the ceasefire and end the war, were expecting to be allowed to act independently of NATO when they eventually entered Pristina but learning that General Wesley Clark, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) had given this task to the Kosovo Force (KFOR) considered they had been ‘double crossed’!
Approximately 200 Russian troops reached Pristina on the morning of 12th June 1999 with the intention of occupying the airport in order, as was later confirmed by General Leonid Ivashev, that they could ‘fly in’ thousands of troops as reinforcements. In the event the Russians did occupy Pristina International Airport but only for a short period of time.
With British troops delayed in moving into the disputed area while they waited for American troops to reach the Kosovo border – General Clark heard of the Russian intentions to occupy Pristina Airport and placed British and French paratroopers on standby to occupy the airport ahead of them. With a potential confrontation between NATO and the Russians looming General Clark spoke with the NATO Secretary General who confirmed that NATO troops would have to move and occupy the airport. ‘Transfer of authority’ in the area was also confirmed. This information was relayed to General Jackson who had no desire to get into a confrontational situation with the Russians – who it was planned were to become part of his command. General Jackson also considered that to confront the Russians, as General Clark was suggesting, would be extremely dangerous and during one rather heated exchange with his superior told him ‘I’m not going to start World War III for you’!
There was some dispute between the US and the United Kingdom as to whether General Jackson’s refusal to carry out General Clark’s order to seize the airport was insubordination or not but the UK’s Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) at the time, General Sir Charles Guthrie, told Clark that Jackson had the total support of both himself and the UK government but as is normal in such cases, the whole argument was eventually settled when Hungary and Romania refused requests from the Russians to overfly their airspace to reinforce troop levels in Kosovo. Diplomacy, respect and the mutual friendship that exist between professional armies eventually overcame the initial problems and it did not take too long before the Russian and NATO troops were working for the good and benefit of the greater good in Kosovo.
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With Operation Allied Force at an end the focus of attention switched to bringing a sense of normality to Kosovo. NATO troops, spearheaded by the British and French, moved into Kosovo in the early hours of the morning of 12th June 1999 with the Parachute Regiment and Gurkhas being flown in by helicopter to secure the high ground on the road leading to Pristina while the Royal Hussars and Combat Engineers in their tracked vehicles moved by road into and around the City of Pristina.
Ethnic tensions still exist in what is known as the Former Republic of Yugoslavia and it is only with the help of peacekeepers placed in Kosovo under the auspices of the UN and NATO that the situation has become calmer since the end of the war.
In May 2008 parliamentary and local elections took place and the following month a new constitution establishing Kosovo’s independence came into effect, albeit against defiance from Serbian opposition, but as stated by Major General Rutledge, the head of the UK military team working for the UN mission in Kosovo at the time, ‘the overall situation in Kosovo is always unpredictable’!
