Bosnian weather defeats Nato peacekeepers

BITING winds, fog, snow and freezing temperatures in the Balkans were yesterday delaying the deployment of 60,000 Nato troops entrusted with the Bosnia peace mission.

Thick cloud hung low over the north-eastern town of Tuzla, where 20 C-130 planes were scheduled to land. The first US combat troops bound for Tuzla, where their mission will be to secure the airport, were unable to leave the Aviano airbase in Italy.

"We will absolutely not be leaving today," said Captain Michael O'Gollaher, spokesman for the 3-325 First Infantry Airborne Combat team at Aviano. "It would be nice if we left tomorrow but we have no promises." He said eight transport aircraft tried to enter Tuzla on Friday but were turned back. "The ceiling is too low," he said. "That means the clouds are too low. By the time the pilots can see to land, it's too dangerous."

It was also impossible for 17 planes to land at Tuzla on Thursday. Captain Malcolm Frost, leader of the first group due to leave Aviano, Charlie Company 3-325, said a short runway at the town's airport compounded the bad visibility problems.

"We knew that weather was going to be a factor and it has become the factor," US Air Force Colonel, Neil Patton, said.

The UN Security Council authorised Nato on Friday to send a 60,000- strong force into Bosnia to ensure the success of a peace deal. It unanimously voted to let Nato take over peacekeeping operations from its own more limited forces.

The council's move allows Nato to take a formal decision to deploy the new Implementation Force, known as Ifor. The UN Protection Force is expected to hand over the mission to Ifor as early as Wednesday.

The council's resolution, adopted unanimously, authorises the Nato-led force "to take all necessary measures to effect the implementation of and to ensure compliance with ... the peace agreement" signed in Paris on Thursday and negotiated in Dayton, Ohio last month.

On Friday, Ifor commander Admiral Leighton Smith said in Zagreb that the weather was hampering the flow of equipment that he needed in place before he could take over.

The Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General George Joulwan, plans to have enough combat troops in the region within 96 hours to ask formally for the transfer of power from the United Nations to Nato commanders.