§ 30. Mr. BluntTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the implications of a long-term deployment of forces in Kosovo on the(a) force structures and (b) budget planned by his Department. [70521]
§ Mr. George RobertsonI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave earlier today to the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath). In the event of such an operation, where the costs cannot be accommodated within the agreed Defence Budget, I would expect to fund them through a claim on the reserve in accordance with normal procedures.
§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the mission statement for the Kosovo extraction force based in Macedonia. [68802]
§ Mr. George Robertson[pursuant to his reply, 3 February 1999, c. 651]I regret that it was wrong to withhold the exact mission statement of the NATO-led Extraction force, operation "Joint Guarantor" as it had, in fact, been authorised for publication by Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers (SHAPE). More recently it has been replaced by a shorter version which more accurately reflects the mission of the force in Kosovo. For completeness, the full and abbreviated versions are as set out.
27WMission Statement (Full version)
As authorised by the NAC, SACEUR will assume overall authority for the operation and Operational command or control of designated forces which will conduct an extraction of OSCE KVM verifiers and/or PDSS (Persons of Designated Special Status) in Kosovo at short notice with minimum use of force, followed by rapid redeployment of forces concerned outside the FRY and with the required reaction times.Mission Statement (Abbreviated version)
On order, to conduct an extraction of OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) Verifiers and/or Persons with Designated Special Status in Kosovo in order to assure their safety.