
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 5, 1995                   TAG: 9510050045
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

ROBB SAYS TROOPS MAY BE NEEDED

Fresh from a fact-finding trip to Sarajevo, Sen. Charles Robb on Wednesday said the United States may have no choice but to send ground troops to the former Yugoslavia.

"This has become a test - like it or not - of U.S. leadership," the Democrat from Virginia said in a speech to about 40 students at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Robb was pessimistic that recent shuttle diplomacy by the Clinton administration could produce a lasting end to ethnic bloodshed in the Eastern European region.

If the talks do bear fruit, however, Robb said the United States must assume a major role in the difficult process of implementing peace.

And that, he said, would mean the United States would join European nations in sending peacekeeping troops to the region.

In the event that talks fail, Robb said, a quick deployment of U.S. troops may be needed to help extricate United Nations peacekeepers on the ground before winter sets in.

"Either scenario results in more - not less - U.S. involvement, and that is going to be a tough sell politically," said Robb, who long has advocated a more assertive policy in the conflict.

"But I believe the Congress ... will agree to provide the U.S. forces necessary to carry out our responsibilities."

by CNB