German
troops 'hid like rabbits' in Kosovo riots
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (LONDON) - May 09, 2004, Sunday
BY TONY PATERSON in Berlin
GERMAN TROOPS serving with the Kfor international peacekeeping contingent in
Kosovo have been accused of hiding in barracks "like frightened rabbits" during
the inter-ethnic rioting that erupted in the province in March.
A hard-hitting German police report sent to the Berlin government last week
criticises the troops for cowardice and for their failure to quell the rioting
in which 19 people died and about 900 others were injured.
The charges - the most serious made against the German army since the Second
World War - have been levelled by police officers serving with Unmik, the United
Nations civil administration in Kosovo.
During the two-day riots between Albanian and Serbs, an Albanian mob burnt and
looted 29 Serb churches and monasteries in the southern city of Prizren, and
caused several thousand Serbs to flee their homes.
Leaked excerpts from the report on the conduct of the 3,600-strong German
contingent based in Prizren disclose that Unmik police were left to fend for
themselves at the height of the rioting.
"Despite continuous appeals for help from Kfor, nobody from the military
appeared to back up the police," the report said. "Kfor proved to be incapable
of carrying out the duties to which it has been assigned."
Further damning evidence, based on interviews with Unmik officers, Serb church
leaders and unnamed UN officials in Prizren, was published in Der Spiegel
magazine.
The magazine concluded: "The German soldiers ran away and hid like frightened
rabbits in their barracks. They only reappeared in armoured vehicles after the
Albanian mob had wreaked its havoc and left a trail of destruction."
Col Dieter Hintelmann, who heads the German Kfor contingent in Prizren, insisted
that his men had simply obeyed Kfor rules of engagement. They prohibit troops
from protecting buildings and allow the use of firearms only in self-defence.
"We were acting exactly according to the rules," he said.
However, the Unmik officers claim that the Kfor troops had breached their rules
of engagement because they failed to protect them even though they were legally
bound to do so.
The allegations have come as a severe embarrassment to Gerhard Schroder's
government, which in the past has gone out of its way to praise the German Kfor
contingent for the role it played in the troubled province through its excellent
contacts with local people.
After the rioting, Serb Orthodox church leaders in Kosovo described the German
deployment in the region as a mistake, and demanded the troops withdraw.
So far, the German government has refused to acknowledge publicly the complaints
made in the police report. However, the defence ministry is believed to be
recommending that the law be changed, allowing soldiers to use tear gas grenades
for riot control.
SECTION: News;
International: Pg. 30
Copyright 2004 The Telegraph Group Limited
Posted for Fair Use only.