Tense situation in Kosovo Escalates

National Guard, Oct 1998

Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen has warned Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to "comply with international demands" and end the conflict in Kosovo, The Washington Post reported on Sept. 28.

The United Nations has been threatening air strikes and other action in that region if the fighting does not cease, and President Clinton has said the United States would be involved in those operations. The global tension behind such actions are similar to those in 1995, when the United States became involved in the Dayton Peace Accords, aimed at bringing stability to the Balkan region.

This year, those operations will cost Americans another $1.9 billion in supplemental defense funding.

The Guard has been an integral part of those operations, staging exercises in Germany, Hungary and Bosnia. To date, 4,779 Army National Guard personnel and 248 Air National Guard personnel have participated in operations Joint Endeavor, Guard and Forge. Currently, 135 Army Guardsmen are stationed in Bosnia, and 19 are in Germany

"The Air Force routinely uses large numbers of volunteers," said a spokesman for reserve affairs in the office of the Secretary of Defense. The volunteers "continuously maintain five KC-135 tankers at Istres, France to support air operations over Bosnia," he said. There are now 57 Air Guard personnel supporting the operation.

An official at the Department of Defense declined to speculate on the National Guard's involvement in Kosovo if ground forces are requested.

Despite continued threats by the United Nations and the continued efforts of NATO forces in Bosnia to maintain peace, Serb troops acting under orders from Milosevic have led a massive offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army. The rebel Kosovars have been fighting since spring to bring autonomy to a region where more than 90 percent of the population is ethnic Albanian.

Last month, the number of refugees in Kosovo--a region of Yugoslavia where strife between ethnic Albanians and Serbs has led to hundreds of deaths-- rose to nearly a quarter of a million, Western observers said.