Troops leave for Macedonia

An advanced party of British troops today set off for Macedonia to start assessing conditions for collecting weapons from Albanian rebel groups.

Forty-one troops from the 16 Air Assault Brigade left Wattisham airfield in Suffolk at 3.55pm in a Hercules military transport aircraft.

They are due to arrive in the capital Skopje three hours later tonight.

The Colchester-based troops from the brigade headquarters will start to set up the task force headquarters of Operation Essential Harvest in Macedonia.

A further 360 troops from the brigade are due to fly out over the weekend beginning tomorrow morning.

They are expected to leave from other bases including RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire.

Among the 41 servicemen and women are mainly logistics staff also signals, medics and clerks.

Six hundred and eighty troops from 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment and engineers, all part of the brigade, are on stand by to fly out if conditions for the weapons collection are considered suitable.

The troops are expected to fly out early next week.

They will be part of a 3,000 4,000-strong NATO force with troops from more than nine countries.

Lt Col Mark Poffley, Commanding Officer of 13 Air Assault Support Regiment, part of the brigade, said: ‘‘Part of the work will involve liaising with the Albanian National Liberation Army and the government.’’

‘‘We also need to assess the environment in terms of the threat not only to the force itself but also whether the conditions are right for the remainder of the force to be deployed,’’ he added

He said it is likely to be ‘‘tortuous process’’.

He said: ‘‘One has to understand that the ceasefire itself is going to be on occasions tested by those who may not want to adhere to it in all its forms.

‘‘It is about getting the message across to all the parties that the ceasefire is in all their interests.’’

He said no time has been set for when the Paras will be deployed as it depends on the assessment on the ground. It is planned that the weapon collection will last 30 days.

Military chiefs have said they are looking for the ceasefire, started on Monday, to be lasting and enduring before making a decision to commit further troops.

They have made it clear the operation will be scrapped if ethnic Albanian rebels do not accept the conditions of the truce.

He said a comprehensive welfare process has been set in motion for the families of the troops being deployed.