Bonn Dispute Grows Over Role in Bosnia : Military: Ruling party’s junior partner indicates that coalition could fall over issue of Germans serving in AWACS crews.

Strife over united Germany’s military role escalated Wednesday as battling coalition partners argued their case before the country’s highest court and hinted that the Bonn government could collapse over the issue.

Members of Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s Cabinet squared off against one another before the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe during oral arguments over German participation in NATO’s planned enforcement of the U.N.-mandated “no-fly” zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies agreed Wednesday to proceed with plans to use jet fighters to enforce the Bosnia “no-fly” zone but put off final approval, reportedly because of coordination problems with the United Nations.

Kohl’s junior coalition partner, the tiny Free Democratic Party, is petitioning the court along with the opposition Social Democrats for a ruling on the constitutionality of a Cabinet decision last week to join the NATO operation.

The court is expected to decide before the Easter holiday whether it will take on the unusual case, which effectively amounts to the government suing itself.

The liberal Free Democrats’ parliamentary leader, Hermann Otto Solms, indicated that Bonn’s center-right coalition was endangered by the conflicting interpretations of the German constitution.

Failure by the court to clarify the issue could cause the coalition strife to take on “a very dramatic shape,” Solms testified before the crimson-robed justices Wednesday.

Asked then whether he meant that the Free Democrats would quit the government if the court dismissed the case and Kohl went ahead with plans to deploy German crews on NATO airborne warning and control system (AWACS) surveillance flights over Bosnia, Solms nodded yes.

Chancellery Minister Friedrich Bohl told the court that the government’s decision “stands as is,” meaning that it intends to permit Germans to fly with the planes unless the high court stops it.

If the court decides to consider the case, it must also rule on a request for an injunction by the Free Democrats, who would want the German crews grounded while the court deliberates.

Kohl’s Christian Democrats and the Free Democrats agree in principle that Germany should broaden its military role beyond the anti-militarist stance it has held since World War II. But Kohl maintains that the current constitution can be interpreted to permit operations such as the proposed AWACS flights and that the decision can be made on the executive level instead of in the Bundestag, or lower house of Parliament.

A key question is whether the AWACS planes are actually engaged in combat when their role is to spot potential targets on radar for fighter planes.

The Free Democrats insist that such questions need legal clarification and that the constitution allows German soldiers only to defend NATO territory, forbidding any “out of area” combat--which would be the case with the former Yugoslav republics.

The stricter interpretation also prevented Germany from participating in the Gulf War.

However, any attempt to amend the constitution in the Bundestag would certainly be blocked by the opposition Social Democrats, whose votes are needed to muster the required two-thirds majority. The Social Democrats oppose broadening Germany’s military role.

Also testifying Wednesday was NATO’s secretary general, Manfred Woerner, who has urged Germany to join multilateral military missions abroad. He said both the alliance’s mission and Germany’s reputation would suffer if Germans were pulled off the AWACS mission.