Camouflage Bonn

by Dusan Reljic

Opinion polls in Germany showed that people are not thrilled to see their soldiers leave on their first combat mission since W.W.II

Joschka Fischer is one of the rare members of the Bundestag whose speeches manage to attract the attention of conservative chancellor Helmut Kohl. Fischer heads the 90s Alliance/Greens party. But, when he turned to the chancellor and to the foreign minister Klaus Kinkel during a June 30 debate on sending German troops to former Yugoslavia and cried, "The Rubikon has been crossed", a visibly upset Kohl just waved him away. Fischer criticized the government for "doing away with the self-limitations on German foreign policy".

A majority of Bundestag members finally voted to approve the government decision to send at least 1,500 troops to the Balkans (40 SDP and four Green party deputies voted for the government proposal) with a mandate to support the British-French-Dutch Rapid Reaction Forces (RRF). The estimated costs over the next six months stand at a minimum of 345 million DM. The 500 strong medical unit which leaves on July 22 with some 50 military security troops will set up its 50 bed mobile hospital in Split.

During last week's tour of squadron 32 (which will fly over Bosnia) at the air force base near Augsburg, Kinkel said "no political decision will be taken if there are doubts about the technical qualities of the equipment".

Opinion polls in Germany showed that people are not thrilled to see their soldiers leave on their first combat mission since W.W.II. The prevailing opinion is that the civilian population in Bosnia should be helped and the Serb side condemned. The Serbs are considered the guilty party in Germany more than anywhere else in western Europe. The prevailing simplified version of the causes of the conflict, with some historical background, suited the government when it sought a majority vote in parliament and public support for the military intervention in the Balkans.

Chancellor Kohl and other opinions spent years repeating the "historic reasons" why Germany could not send troops to Yugoslavia. The government has now changed that to not being able to send ground troops, as the opposition pointed out.