New U.S. general takes over command of U.S. troops in Kosovo

Associated Press, Aug 21, 2005 6:03 AM

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-Brig. Gen. John Harrel took over command of U.S. peacekeepers in Kosovo in a ceremony Sunday at a sprawling American base in the east of the province.

Harrel replaces Brig. Gen. William Wade, who was recently appointed by California's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to head the state's National Guard, the largest in the United States.

There are some 1,800 U.S. soldiers serving with the 18,000-strong NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, a disputed province under U.N. administration.

The peacekeepers were first deployed in 1999 following the NATO-led aerial bombardment of Serb forces wagging a bloody crackdown on the province's separatist ethnic Albanians.

Harrel will also be in charge of one of the four NATO-controlled regions in the east of the province, where most of the U.S. troops are based.