§ Lord Gainfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will give further details of military deployments to the former Yugoslavia.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Earl Howe)The deployment of British Armed Forces to the NATO-led peace implementation force (IFOR) in Bosnia is now complete.
By carefully matching the manpower required to the tasks which have emerged, we have been able to deploy a smaller number of troops than the estimate of over 13,000 108WA reported by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence in another place on 12 December. The actual figure is some 11,500. The United Kingdom's contribution remains, by a substantial margin, second only to that of the United States.
We shall keep the force level under review as planning develops for the reduction of IFOR numbers and the completion of its task. NATO is also reviewing the maritime and air forces required to support operations in the Adriatic theatre. Force levels can in any case be expected to fluctuate.