MACEDONIA/KOSOVO BORDER: BRITISH NATO TROOPS

(11 Jun 1999) English/Nat

British troops gathered on the Macedonian border with Kosovo on Friday, awaiting the go-ahead to cross into the province and begin their peacekeeping operation.

They are expected to make the move early on Saturday.

While the British troops prepared, a surprise advance through Serbia by Russian troops looked at one point as if it would get to Kosovo first.

Members of the 5th Airborne Division set up Piper camp just three kilometres from the Kosovo side.

They flattened corn fields to improvise a helipad for the eight Chinook helicopters.

Each Chinook is capable of carrying 32 soldiers of the First Battalion Parachute Regiment and Gurkas.

These forces gathered near the border with Kosovo ready to go into the province with as little as one hours notice.

What started on Friday morning as an orderly buildup of British and other forces near the border ready for deployment overnight threatened to unravel by midday.

NATO planners became aware that Russia might be planning to beat them into Kosovo via the Serb border.

The British paratroopers and a Gurkha rifle regiment were told to prepare for a possible landing at Pristina airport.

The new orders wanted them to secure the airfield against the landing of non-NATO aircraft.

But tensions ebbed after assurances from Moscow that the Russian convoy would stop outside Kosovo.

Now they will fulfill their original role - to secure the main road from the Macedonia border to the Kosovan capital Pristina.

The buildup included heavy artillery, tanks, and A-P-C's.

Another convoy set off from the base near Skopje and made its way to the border.

Hundreds of people turned out to cheer the troops as they passed.

Tanks and heavy artillery of the Fourth Armoury Division were also seen passing by Piper camp on their way to the border.

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