Seven Irish peacekeeping troops serving in Macedonia have been withdrawn to the Irish Transport Unit's headquarters inside Kosovo as a precautionary measure during the conflict in the area.
However, senior Kfor sources yesterday said there was no threat to any of the 104 Irish troops or the 63 RUC members who are part of the multinational police force in Kosovo.
The seven Irish troops were working as the National Support Element for the Irish Transport Unit at the Kfor logistics base at Skopje Airport in Macedonia. They had been returning to the Irish headquarters most nights but it was decided this week to withdraw from Macedonia temporarily while the border conflict sharpened.
The senior Irish officer in Kosovo, Lieut Col Pat Hayes, from Ashbourne, Co Meath, said there was no threat to any of the Irish soldiers or the RUC serving inside Kosovo.
The conflict remained confined to the border area inside Macedonia north of the town of Tetovo. The Irish Transport Unit's work was principally on the main supply route between Skopje and the Kosovar capital, Pristina. The road is about 30 km to the east of the area of conflict.
Lieut Col Hayes, who serves at Kfor Headquarters in Pristina, said: "Kosovo is calm and peaceful. The main effects of the recent conflict are at Tetovo, 13 km inside Macedonia, about 50 km from Camp Clarke (the Irish Unit's base)."
He pointed out that a ceasefire had been brokered along the north and eastern borders with Serbia and Kfor was overseeing the return of Serbian military to the "Ground Safety" area along the Kosovo/Serbian border.
"The ceasefire was brokered and the Serbian police are handing over control to the Serbian army. The trouble in Tetovo broke out in the last couple of weeks and seems to be ethnic Albanian groups engaging in insurgency."
The multi-national, NATO-led peacekeeping force, Kfor, has 43,000 personnel.
The Irish Unit transports supplies and equipment from the Greek port of Thessalonika into Pristina and carries out other resupply missions within Kosovo.
The 63 RUC officers are involved in both policing and training the new 5,000-strong Kosovan police force. The head of the UN Policing Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is the RUC Assistant Chief Constable Chris Albinson.
On St Patrick's Day the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, visited his officers in Kosovo and attended a social function at the Irish Transport Unit's headquarters.
PA adds:
Britain is to send two army officers to Macedonia to advise its government on how to deal with ethnic Albanian rebels, it was revealed yesterday.
The Ministry of Defence announcement came as the Macedonian government prepared to launch a military assault on the insurgents in the hills around the Balkan state's second city, Tetovo.
The NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson yesterday appealed for allied governments to provide more troops to beef up the Kfor peace-keeping force in neighbouring Kosovo and cut the rebels' supply lines from fellowAlbanians across the border.
An MoD spokesman said the two officers would join a British army brigadier in Macedonia to assist Skopje with its plans to join NATO.