Major holds back troops

Minister told the Commons that if the United Nations asked for more

British troops he would consider it.

General Sir Michael Rose and the UN political envoy in Bosnia, Mr

Yasushi Akashi, astonished all the western political leaders involved in

the Bosnian crisis with renewed demands for at least another 10,000

soldiers on the ground immediately to supervise the end of Bosnian Serb

bombardments on Sarajevo and other key towns.

Mr Major told the Commons yesterday that Britain had not been asked by

UN General Secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali for more British troops. The

Cabinet wants other nations, like Belgium, to provide more troops on the

ground when the UN makes a specific request to the nations involved.

Mr Major, who had a meeting with Mr Boutros-Ghali in New York two days

ago, told the Commons yesterday that he was not being asked for more

British troops at this stage. It was agreed in Cabinet that if a

specific request for more British troops was made by the UN it would

have to be considered seriously. Ministers came to this view on the

basis of another policy paper from the chiefs of the defence staff

advocating that another 1000 men should not yet be committed.

Last night at Westminster it was clear that General Rose would like

more British troops for Bosnia, particularly as they have been trained

in Northern Ireland. But the Government wants to wait to see whether

other nations can meet the call for another 10,000 troops on the ground.

The issue was highlighted by deliberately public pronouncements from

the French General Jean Cot and the Japanese UN political representative

in Bosnia Mr Akashi, who appeared to be determined to get the additional

10,000 men on the ground immediately.

General Cot, who represents the largest Nato force in the former

Yugoslavia, said that President Clinton's refusal to put ground troops

into Bosnia is a ''strange and not very courageous idea''. The Prime

Minister, while in Washington earlier this week, was able to reaffirm

that President Clinton would not commit US ground troops until there is

an agreed peace settlement.

Mr Akashi went on television yesterday to declare that the UN needed

4600 more troops to enforce the Sarajevo truce plus 6050 to keep apart

Muslims and Croats in Central Bosnia, plus 150 more military observers

and an additional 500 UN civil police.

General Cot also spelled out the realities of the situation. He said

that the only countries in a position to despatch troops immediately

were, ''first, the US, second Britain, third France''. None of these

countries are prepared to commit more infantry to a dangerous situation.

Mr Major will not commit another 1000 men to Bosnia unless he is

specifically asked by the UN Security Council to do so. His Cabinet and

his back benchers are solidly behind him on this issue and President

Clinton takes the same view.

Last night the Prime Minister was reassuring his back benchers that he

will stand on his policy that if 10,000 more troops must go to Bosnia

they will have to come from other nations -- Italy, Belgium, and Spain.

The Muslim countries, including Nato member Turkey and other nations

in the Middle East want to put more troops on the ground. But President

Clinton and Mr Major, after their talks in Washington on Tuesday, are

determined that Muslim nations should provide the money, not the troops

to support the UN position.