Kosovo (Hansard, 2 November 1998)

§ Mr. Bayley
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the United Kingdom's contribution to the OSCE monitoring force in Kosovo. [55906]

§ Ms Christine Russell
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Britain's contribution to the OSCE monitoring force in Kosovo. [55904]

§ Mr. Tony Lloyd
As my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary stated in the House on 19 October 1998,Official Report, column 954, we shall provide up to 200 verifiers to the Kosovo Verification Mission run by the OSCE.
Britain is already playing a key role in establishing this Mission. Major-General Drewienkiewicz heads a group of 10 British personnel attached to or working alongside the OSCE in Vienna.

§ Mr. Howard
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many OSCE representatives are currently stationed in Kosovo. [57964]

§ Mr. Tony Lloyd
There are currently about 25 OSCE representatives in Kosovo. This figure does not include the members of the Kosovo Diplomatic Observer Mission (KDOM) who will be folded into the OSCE mission once it is fully up and running.

§ Mr. Howard
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British participants there will be in the OSCE contingent in Kosovo; and when he expects them to reach the territory. [57963]

§ Mr. Tony Lloyd
As my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary stated in the House on 19 October 1998,Official Report, column 954, we shall provide up to 200 members of the Mission. We expect the first contingent of up to 50 verifiers, who will initially be accredited to the Kosovo Diplomatic Observer Mission (KDOM), to arrive toward the end of the week.
412W
Britain is already playing a key role in establishing this Mission. Major-General Drewienkiewicz heads a group of 10 British personnel attached to or working alongside the OSCE in Vienna. Major-General Drewienkiewicz took part in the OSCE's advance party which visited Kosovo and Belgrade between 18 and 21 October.

§ Mr. Howard
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British participants in the OSCE contingent are currently stationed in Kosovo. [57965]

§ Mr. Tony Lloyd
At present there is one British secondee to the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission stationed in Kosovo. We expect this to increase to 6 on the ground in 3 November. This is in addition to 3 British monitors in the European Community Monitor Mission/Kosovo Diplomatic Observer Mission. There is currently a joint FCO/MOD reconnaissance team in Kosovo looking at the practical issues of deploying a further 50 British verifiers by the end of this week.