Brussels, 15/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - At a meeting at NATO Headquarters on 14 March of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) and the European Union's Political and Security Committee (Cops), the Alliance undertook to ensure the safety of European monitors.
Following the decision of the EU Council of 26 February to take the number of European observers in the Valley of Presevo, in southern Serbia to 30, the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (Cfsp), Javier Solana, had asked the Secretary General of NATO for details on the protection measures provided for this mission.
The second meeting between Allied ambassadors and Copsi, which the latter's chairman-in-office, Mr. Anders Bjurner, qualified as "very useful", gave rise to an exchange of information on the situation in the Valley of Presevo and the surrounding area and on concrete measures that NATO will adopt to ensure the safety of the monitors. Indeed, Mr. Bjurner told a press conference, the monitors, who currently number ten, but who will gradually be increased to thirty, need an "adequate safety environment" and a stable situation to carry out their mission. NATO, he said, will ensure the personal safety of the monitors, in cooperation with the peacekeeping force headed by NATO, KFOR.
Lord Robertson stressed that the European Union's monitoring mission was a "critical part" of the activities on the ground, and that the challenge of stability in the Balkans required maximum cooperation between NATO, the European Union and other international organisations. The grave situation in the Balkans demands a response and "that is what NATO and the EU are doing", he said. NATO, he added, "will not tolerate" attempts to cancel what the peace process has achieved during the past 21 months of work
Mr Bjurner specified that he had not yet decided "when" and "where" the thirty monitors would be placed. He did not wish to give details of security arrangements for observers, but said it was obvious that it was mainly a question of communication means, cooperation with KFOR, and the possibility of evacuation if necessary. The exact nature of the arrangements between NATO and the EU will be developed in the next few days, he said.