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NOTE: Due to PIO’s participation in Exercise "Strong Resolve 2002," the SHAPE News Morning Update will not be published until March 16. Significant news items are incorporated in the SHAPE News Summary and Analysis.

BALKANS

• According to Reuters, NATO Monday denied a report that last week’s attempted arrest of former Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic failed because a French officer informed local police of the operation in advance. "No. The French did not tip off anyone," the dispatch quotes a NATO spokeswoman saying. The dispatch notes that the French Defense Ministry said it had no information on the report and no comment to make on it. It adds, however, that diplomats at NATO said they doubted whether the report was correct. One diplomat reportedly dubbed the report "cocktail party chatter." He said SFOR troops probably failed to net Karadzic because of the time it takes to get to a suspected hideout area, complicated by the need to capture him alive. A related AFP dispatch quotes a French Defense Ministry spokesman saying Monday the ministry would await the result of an official investigation before it reacted to reports that a French officer scuppered an attempt to capture Karadzic. "SFOR has opened an investigation. We’ll stick to its conclusion," the spokesman reportedly stressed. Another AFP dispatch reports that NATO-led peacekeepers launched an investigation Monday into a report that a leak by a French officer was to blame for their failure to capture former Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic last week. The dispatch quotes an SFOR spokesman saying the probe would check the report that the officer revealed plans for the operation to the Bosnian Serb police. "Clearly, if these reports are proven to be correct, appropriate action will be taken," the spokesman reportedly stressed. In a similar vein, the BBC reported that "an investigation has been launched into claims that a French army officer deliberately wrecked last week’s NATO attempt to capture" Karadzic. The broadcast noted that reports in British and German newspapers claim that an unnamed army captain is said to have telephoned a Bosnian Serb policeman to tip him off that a NATO operation was about to begin in the town of Foca. Earlier, The Times wrote that NATO chiefs are investigating claims that a French army captain tipped off sympathizers of Karadzic that special forces were launching a raid on his hideout last week. The newspaper added that British intelligence had reportedly monitored a conversation between the French captain, who has not been named, and a senior police officer based in Foca, who passed the warning immediately to one of Karadzic’s bodyguards. "For the past 48 hours, NATO chiefs have been investigating the intercepted telephone call to decide if this was an accident or betrayal…. Last night NATO would not say where the French suspect was being held or what would be done with him," the article added. It noted that the French captain is alleged to have telephoned a Bosnian Serb at 6.26 a.m. on Thursday morning, just as helicopters carrying the U.S. troops were taking off from their base at Tuzla and armored vehicles were sealing off all routes leading to Celebici, where Karadzic was said to have been hiding. German daily Hamburger Abendblatt quoted one of Karadzic’s bodyguards saying that "at about seven hours, Karadzic was given the decisive hint which permitted him to escape before German and French soldiers arrived." The newspaper claimed that "a French captain gave the decisive hint" and added that Western European experts have taken down the seemingly innocuous conversation which he had with a leader of the Bosnian Serb police at 6.26 a.m. The Sunday Telegraph, March 3, stressed that "at first it was feared that a mole inside SFOR headquarters had tipped off Karadzic and his supporters. However, military incompetence is being blamed for Karadzic’s escape rather than conspiracy." In this respect, the newspaper noted that criticism is mounting over the two failed raids to grab Karadzic. It quoted British military officials saying a full inquiry had been launched into why the raids on Thursday and Friday failed to capture Karadzic, leaving NATO robbed of the advantage of surprise in its latest initiative to catch him. Charging that the botched raids show the weakness of joint special forces operations, the article concluded: "Erroneous initial reports that the raids had been led by the French, which emerged after Paris made the first announcement, fueled the sense of confusion. It emerged Saturday that the raids were coordinated by the American command in Bosnia even though Karadzic was hiding in the French sector. America had insisted on leading the airborne forces and on keeping French, German and Italian troops on the ground to seal off roads." A related AFP dispatch quoted Brig. Gen. Rosa, deputy director of current operations of the Joint Staff, saying in Washington that the first of two unsuccessful NATO raids to capture Karadzic was a "purely American" operation in response to an intelligence tip and the second was coalition.

The Guardian, March 2, asserted that some international officials in Bosnia are wondering whether SFOR’s decision to hunt Karadzic was for the show, rather than real. "Look at NATO’s spin. They’re saying, ‘At least we are doing something. This is proof we’re doing something,’" the newspaper quoted a senior western official saying.

• AP reports lawmakers in Kosovo elected a new president Monday, completing a government that ethnic Albanians see as the first step toward self rule. Moderate ethnic Albanian Rugova overwhelmingly won the parliamentary vote, the fourth time the deputies attempted to create a government. The vote was 88-3, with 13 abstentions, adds the dispatch.

• The Washington Post, March 3, reported that following a two-week surveillance operation, police in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Sunday shot and killed seven men described by the Skopje government as members of a terrorist cell that was planning to attack the U.S., German and British embassies in Skopje. According to the newspaper, officials said authorities had been following the men since detaining two Jordanians and two Bosnians last month and seizing computer disks with information on embassies and government installations in the country. Noting that this is the second time since Sept. 11 that authorities said they had prevented an attack on a U.S. facility in the Balkans, the newspaper stressed: Skopje authorities have long maintained that Islamic militants from outside the Balkans fought alongside ethnic Albanian separatists in an insurgency that ended last year with a western-brokered political deal. The claim was dismissed by western officials at the time. Sunday western officials said, however, that there was every indication that at least five of the seven men killed were not ethnic Albanians. The newspaper considered that this raises both the specter of terrorism against western targets in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the possibility of renewed conflict in the country.

According to the Financial Times, plans for the new European Rapid Reaction Force to take over the NATO peacekeeping mission in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are being fiercely resisted by the British government, which doubts the EU is yet up to the task. However, the Foreign Office has reportedly said that if the force were deployed, Britain would be part of it for "political" reasons even though defense chiefs say troops could be at risk.

The newspaper adds that the scale of British concern is revealed in two leaked memos from Foreign Secretary Straw to Defense Secretary Hoon to Prime Minister Blair’s senior foreign policy adviser. The letter from Hoon’s office reportedly made clear that he and Adm. Sir Michael Boyce, chief of the Defense Staff, believed British troops would be at risk because the EU’s defense arm was not ready for such a dangerous mission. "There would be a real risk that the EU’s first mission would end in failure, or rescue by a re-engaged NATO, which would be disastrous in presentational terms." The letter from Straw’s office makes clear that he too is against the role for the EU force. However, unlike Hoon, Straw argued that there were compelling political reasons for Britain to be part of the European force if it were deployed.

EUCOM

• According to AP, the U.S. Defense Department plans to place responsibility for Russia with EUCOM, which is now in charge of American military forces and military-to-military relations in Europe. The dispatch claims that the change is intended, at least in part, to make management of U.S. military relations with Russia work more like it does with other countries. It notes that it would make Gen. Ralston, in his capacity as EUCOM commander, responsible for activities with Russia, including joint exercises and military-to-military exchanges.

OTHER NEWS

• According to the Financial Times, Europe’s A400M military transport aircraft, delayed by German budget problems, has suffered a new setback with the rejection of the proposed engine. Airbus has reportedly reopened the competition after refusing to accept the TP400 turbo-prop engine—offered by a consortium of European companies because it was too heavy and did not meet performance standards.

 FINAL ITEM