Reinforcement of British troops arrives in Bosnia

last night.

Announcing the increased contribution, Mr Malcolm Rifkind, Defence

Secretary, said in the Commons yesterday that the battalion from the

Duke of Wellington's Regiment would be deployed in Bosnia initially for

four months.

It will be commanded by Lieutenant Colonel David Santa-Olalla, who has

significant experience of peacekeeping duties in Northern Ireland.

The battalion will be equipped with 109 Saxon armoured personnel

carriers, which will be shipped out on the landing ships Sir Galahad,

Sir Tristram, and Sir Bedivere. It will include engineers, signals, and

support troops and a reconnaissance squadron of the Light Dragoons.

Mr Rifkind said that an additional 3850 troops for the protection

force were being provided by other UN countries. With the redeployment

of some 2450 troops already serving in other parts of the former

Yugoslavia, this means that the UN Commander, General Sir Michael Rose,

will have around 7200 extra troops for UN work in Bosnia. He had

originally asked for 10,000.

The troops are being sent in response to a British diplomatic

initiative launched at the weekend. The response, far better than

diplomats had expected, had taken the Foreign Office by surprise, a

senior source admitted yesterday.

Welcoming Mr Rifkind's announcement, Shadow Defence Secretary David

Clark asked why the Government had dithered so long when troops had been

''ready and waiting'' to go to Bosnia since February 17.

''By your vacillation and delay, you have put at risk not only the

tenuous peace but also the lives of our own overstretched troops in

Bosnia,'' he said.

Rejecting the charge, Mr Rifkind said the Government would always be

cautious when sending British troops to serve in a foreign country.

''Our judgment is that reinforcement is the right course at the present

time.''

Far from dithering, Britain had taken the lead in co-ordinating the

response at the UN. ''You either display total ignorance of what has

been happening over the last week, or a desire to be partisan even at a

time when our armed forces would expect the House to be able to speak

with a single voice,'' he added.

Mr Douglas Hurd, Foreign Secretary, said last night that Britain was

reinforcing the first signs of success in Bosnia. ''We have taken the

lead in gripping the international question,'' he told journalists at

the Foreign Office.

It would be good news if the United States decided to reinforce their

ground troops in Macedonia, thus releasing some Scandinavian troops to

go to Bosnia, he added.

Asked what the strategy was for getting British troops out, he said:

''We certainly don't want to get involved year after year, but at the

moment it is quite clear that extra is needed to implement the

ceasefire, and build on the progress that has been made.''

About 800 troops are being provided by France, and Turkey is providing

1000 men for the first time. The Czech Republic, Argentina, Ukraine,

Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and Russia are among the other

countries making up the balance of the 3850.

At present Britain has 760 troops at Vitez, 290 at Gorni Vakuf, 250 at

Tomislavgrad, 150 at Sarajevo, 85 at Kiseljak, 940 at the main logistics

base at Split, and 16 at the protection force headquarters in Zagreb.

Serbs block convoy6