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Defense Minister Says IFOR Will End in December
UNITED NATIONS, May 10 (Reuters) — British Defense Minister Michael Portillo on Friday appeared to rule out any British troops staying in Bosnia after December when the mandate of the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR) runs out. "The IFOR mandate will run out at the end of the year and that will be the end of the IFOR operation," he told a news conference shortly before he saw U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

"I think the Bosnian operation has been sucessful because it has been a NATO operation. I can only envison operations in Bosnia that are NATO operations," he said. "I can't imagine European operations or British operations or single state operations," he added.

Britain has 10,000 troops in IFOR, the second largest contingent in the NATO force after the United States, which has about 20,000.

Portillo, however, said the international community had to work out a coherent strategy for Bosnia before the end of the year on political and economic development issues. "The question of whatever military structure you require ought to fall out of that analysis and not be a question in itself," he said.


U.S. Sees Long-Term Civilian Presence in Bosnia


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