Скачать или смотреть MACEDONIA: KOSOVO: US TROOPS WAITING AT BORDER

(12 Jun 1999) English/Nat

The first U-S ground troops have crossed into Kosovo to start their peacekeeping mission.

They entered the wartorn province from Macedonia alongside British forces on Saturday.

Earlier, U-S Apache helicopters flew into the province to help provide cover for other NATO forces.

They reported that buildings were being set on fire ahead of the troops.

Something under a hundred American troops entered Kosovo on this first day of the NATO peacekeeping operation.

They entered the province from Macedonia, with larger groups of British and French forces.

The Americans are an advance party for nearly two-thousand Marines.

They, in turn, will be the vanguard of the U-S contingent of about seven-thousand peacekeepers.

The total NATO-led force is expected to be about 50-thousand.

The initial U-S forces entering Kosovo today are said to be mine-sweeping units and liaison troops.

They drove into Kosovo in humvees as part of a British column.

They will help to deal with the potential threat of land mines left behind by Serb troops.

Earlier, U-S Apache helicopters flew in Kosovo from an airbase in Skopje to help provide cover for other NATO forces.

They accompanied an advance team of British paratroopers and Gurkha riflemen who flew across the border at daybreak today, setting into motion one of the biggest military operations in Europe since World War II.

Two of the helicopters flew low overhead on the southern outskirts of the capital Pristina on a surveillance mission.

Those involved said that buildings were being set alight.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"There were some buildings alighting while we were conducting the mission. We did not see them come alight, however smoke did appear from where it hadn't been before. We didn't necessarily see the culprits themselves but there were a few buildings set afire as the British contingent continued to move forward."
SUPERCAPTION: Major Robert Douthit, US Army

NATO officials say the larger force of U-S Marines are expected to go into Kosovo within days.

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