Letter to the Chairman from the Secretary
of State for Defence on NATO's assessment of the security situation
in Bosnia
I am pleased to be able to let you know the
results of NATO's recent assessment of the security situation
in Bosnia.
It is four years now since the Alliance deployed
troops to Bosnia to oversee the implementation of the Dayton agreement,
and the situation has improved enormously over that period. It
is the Alliance's collective judgement that now is the appropriate
time to engage upon a restructuring of SFOR, which will involve
a reduction in the number of troops deployed from 32,000 to about
20,000. This will still be a very capable force, and there is
no lessening of our commitment to Dayton implementation.
This means that we can reduce our own force
levels in Bosnia, and we will consequently be returning some 900
troops to the UK by Christmas. This represents the removal of
a battlegroup HQ, along with an armoured squadron and reconnaissance
squadron; an artillery battery; an engineer squadron; and various
logistic assets. This will bring our forces committed to supporting
the ongoing operation in Bosnia down to a total of 3,300. I trust
the Committee will find this welcome news.
25 October 1999
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