Military

BALKANS

¨         NATO-led peacekeepers have detained five Algerians in Kosovo, accusing them of threatening the province's stability, an alliance official said Wednesday. The five were detained during the last two weeks in two separate intelligence-led operations in Kosovo, said Squadron Leader Tony Adams, a spokesman for NATO's peace force in the province. "They are suspected to pose a threat to the safe and secure environment in Kosovo," he said in a statement. The detainees were being held at the detention facility in Camp Bondsteel, the main U.S. military base in Kosovo, he said. NATO said it had informed Algerian officials about the detentions. NATO officials declined to comment on the nature of the threat the five allegedly posed or on the detainee's backgrounds, pending the investigation. However, a Western official in Kosovo speaking on condition of anonymity said the five were detained partly because they had filmed military premises in the province. "Authorities are investigating whether they are linked with Islamic extremist organizations that might have been involved in terrorist activities," the official said.(AP 212058 Aug 02 GMT)

¨         Bosnia is slow with reforms needed for integration into Europe and cannot become a member of the European Union before 2010 at the earliest, the European Commission's Bosnia envoy said. "If you look at other Eastern European countries that are candidates to join the EU in 2004, it took them 15 years after the fall of communism to reach this point," outgoing Ambassador Hansjoerg Kretschmer told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. "So I think Bosnia will need at least 15 years after the Dayton peace treaty to do the same thing, and that is the best-case scenario," he said.  Kretschmer said the country had made progress in many areas but it was still not enough to satisfy conditions for a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the bloc, the first formal step in the process towards EU membership.(Reuters 1531 210802 Aug 02 GMT)

NATO-ACCESSION

¨         Slovak President Rudolf Schuster said on Wednesday he expected a broad coalition to emerge from a September 20-21 election that would ensure the EU and NATO candidate's integration into the blocs. Schuster told Reuters in an interview he was sure that after the vote, Slovakia's 5.4 million people would have a government that would not endanger their chance to secure NATO entry at the alliance's Prague summit in November and the EU shortly after. "These are the crucial elections since the 1989 revolution that can finally prove our integration efforts...Or we could find ourselves behind closed doors again, but this time for a long time," said Schuster. "I'm convinced we will finish integration with both NATO and the EU...The political map and (voter) preferences suggest it," Schuster said. "The higher participation of voters, the more objective result of the vote and the closer we'll be to the doors of NATO and the EU," he said.(Reuters 1101 210802 Aug 02 GMT)

IRAQ

¨         President Bush on Wednesday brushed aside speculation about imminent military action against Iraq, saying he was a patient man who would first consult with U.S. allies and Congress.  Bush said the subject of Iraq -- and his repeated calls for Saddam Hussein's ouster -- did not come up during a meeting with top national security advisers, dismissing "intense Speculation" about military action any time soon. "We take all threats seriously and we will continue to consult with our friends and allies," Bush told reporters when asked about Iraq. "The American people know my position, and that is, that regime change is in the interests of the world. "I'm a patient man," he said. "We will look at all options and we will consider all technologies available to us, and diplomacy and intelligence. But one thing is for certain ... this administration agrees that Saddam Hussein is a threat."(Reuters 2100 210802 Aug 02 GMT)