U.N. Force Will Need Weeks to Fully Deploy, Its Chief Says

The commander of a U.N. peacekeeping force said Friday that his soldiers won’t be fully deployed along the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border for weeks. As a result, U.S. troops may face an extended stay to care for refugees.

Maj. Gen. Gunther Greindl, an Austrian, said some U.N. military observers were scheduled to arrive today in Kuwait city and would be sent soon to a buffer zone straddling the border.

“The moment we have military observers and vehicles available, we will establish an immediate presence in the demilitarized zone,” Greindl told reporters.

But asked when there would be a complete handing over to the U.N. peacekeeping mission, the general said, “It will be not a matter of days; it will be a matter of weeks.”

The U.S. military has said it does not intend to abandon thousands of refugees in its care along a border strip of southern Iraq until the 1,440 peacekeepers are in place and an aid organization is prepared to help the people who have fled civil unrest in Iraq.

About 18,000 U.S. soldiers remain in the Iraqi sector of the buffer zone, which extends six miles inside Iraq and three miles into Kuwait.

The peacekeeping force, formally known as the U.N. Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission, has no mandate to conduct humanitarian operations for refugees.

Greindl said he is confident a solution will be found for about 50,000 refugees now in the care of the U.S. Army, and other allied organizations.

Once the peacekeeping mission is established, the only soldiers allowed in the buffer zone will be the U.N. troops.

Iraq and Kuwait will assume civil administration of their territories in the buffer zone, including police duties. This has alarmed some refugees, many of whom fought as rebels against Saddam Hussein’s army and fear Iraqi police will arrest them.

Greindl said that he will be negotiating guidelines for Iraqi policemen when he travels to Baghdad this weekend. Greindl already has met with Kuwaiti and Iraqi government officials since arriving here April 13. He described both sides as “very cooperative.”