Military

WAR ON TERRORISM

¨         After months of difficult talks, U.S. and Hong Kong officials intend to go ahead with a plan to station U.S. customs agents at local docks to help prevent terrorists from using shipping containers to stage attacks, a report said on Monday. The South China Morning Post said the two sides would be signing an agreement signaling Hong Kong's intention to participate in the "container security initiative." The agreement would be a non-binding "declaration of principle," the report added. (AP 230214 Sep 02)

AFGHANISTAN

¨         With Afghanistan's multiethnic army struggling to take shape, Turkish peacekeepers launched a new training program on Saturday for more than 400 presidential guards. Turkish officers said the 411 soldiers of the 1^st Battalion Afghan National Guard would each complete a 10-week course led by 30 Turkish officers. Turkish Gen. Mehmet Emin Alpman said several Afghan officers selected by the Defense Ministry would travel to Turkey to receive additional training at Turkish military academies. (AP 211547 Sep 02)

IRAQ

¨         U.S. Defence Secretary Rumsfeld suggested on Sunday that any American invasion of Iraq would directly target Baghdad's "dictatorial, repressive" government while attempting to spare the Iraqi people. Pressed directly about a Sunday Washington Post report that massive U.S. air strikes and simultaneous ground attacks might concentrate on "regime targets" such as President Saddam Hussein's palaces, bodyguards, bunkers and hometown power center of Tikrit, Rumsfeld responded: "The people in that country are, in a sense, hostages to a small group of dictatorial, repressive government officials. It is not a large group. The United States has not and never has had any problem or issue with the Iraqi people." (Reuters 222045 GMT Sep 02)

¨         U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was quoted on Sunday as saying that if the UN was unwilling to take "strong action" against Iraq, Washington would have to take care of the problem. Rice said in an interview with the London-based Financial Times that in the event Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was removed by force, the United States and its allies "would have to be completely devoted to the reconstruction of Iraq." Rice said the United States wanted to see the UN take effective action on ensuring that Iraq did not have nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. (Reuters 230108 GMT Sep 02)

¨         European Union and Asian leaders were expected to call for UN approval of any military actions against Iraq, at a two-day summit starting Monday in Copenhagen. In a draft statement, the 25 leaders said terrorism posed a threat to global peace and security, but added that the fight against that threat "must be based on the leading role of the United Nations and the principles of the UN Charter." (AP 230012 Sep 02)

¨         Amr Moussa, head of the Arab League, appealed for "all governments" to give UN inspectors a chance to examine Iraq's claim that it is not building weapons of mass destruction. Asked about the Bush administration's call for "regime change" in Iraq, Moussa said that's up to the Iraqis. Moussa said if UN inspectors discover that Iraq is building such weapons, then the UN Security Council should take up the matter immediately. However, he said any military action against Iraq should be approved by the council. (AP 230230 Sep 02)

¨         Iraq said Sunday its decision to reject any new UN Security Council resolution was not defiance but a logical view, shared by the majority of council members. "I think the majority of the Security Council members see no need for a new resolution as there is no justification for any resolution," Iraq's Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said. He also urged the UN to assume its role in preserving international peace and security. (Reuters 222313 GMT Sep 02)

¨         An attack against Iraq could create instability in the entire region and hurt European economies, Greece's defense minister said Sunday. "Unfortunately yes ... I believe it is very likely that such military action will occur," Yannos Papantoniou told state-run NET television. He will host a meeting of EU defense ministers on the Greek island of Crete on Oct. 4 and 5 to discuss Iraq and other issues. Papantoniou said it was "inconceivable" that Greece would help any military action unless it was sanctioned by the UN and supported by the EU. He did not comment on the possible use by U.S. forces of a military base in Souda Bay in Crete in the event of an attack. (AP 221332 Sep 02)

¨         Romanian Defense Minister Ioan Mircea Pascu offered Friday to cooperate with the United States in any military campaign against Iraq. Pascu said Romania would permit overflights of U.S. aircraft and use of Romanian territory. Meeting with reporters, Pascu said any commitment of Romanian troops would depend on the consent of the Romanian parliament. (AP 202052 Sep 02)

NATO

¨         NATO would create a rapid-reaction military force designed specifically to fight outside the Alliance's borders under a plan the United States is offering defense ministers. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was taking the idea to Warsaw, Poland, where he is meeting Tuesday and Wednesday with colleagues from the other 18 NATO nations. He said he has in mind "a quick-reaction force that would be able to respond to a problem in a matter of days, rather than weeks or months." That agility, he told CNN before his departure, is necessary "to deal with the types of problems that exist today." Jerzy Szmajdzinski, the Polish defense minister, said the U.S. proposal would create a rapid-reaction force with three main elements: ground troops, AWACS radar planes and shared allied intelligence. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it also could include naval forces and chemical-biological defenses. The official said the force would have a core of 20,000 U.S., Canadian and European combat and support troops, contributed by all 19 alliance members and rotated out of the force every six months. If approved, the plan would go to government leaders when they meet at a NATO summit in the Czech Republic in November. (AP 221507 Sep 02)

¨         Non-aligned Finland is heading towards NATO membership and only a deliberate decision to stay out will stop it following Eastern Europe into the alliance, Defence Minister Jan-Erik Enestam said on Friday in Helsinki. Enestam told the Reuters news agency that EU member and euro insider Finland risked becoming isolated as its former Soviet Baltic neighbours join the alliance, increasingly a forum to deal with new security threats. A decision on whether to join NATO - opposed by two thirds of Finns according to recent polls - will wait at least until after the government's next defence review in 2004. (Reuters 201656 GMT Sep 02)

¨         Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy has warned that delayed legal reforms and coalition in-fighting may stop the country being invited to join NATO later this year, state radio said on Saturday. Asked to comment on recent media reports that Sofia might not win the coveted invitation to join NATO at the pact's summit in Prague in November, Passy was quoted by the radio as saying: "If there are negative forecasts, obviously there are reasons for that." "The course of reforms in the judicial system, the unity of the ruling majority and developments in the privatisation of Bulgartabak will be key criteria for getting an invitation," the radio quoted Passy as saying. (Reuters 211528 GMT Sep 02)

¨         General elections boosted Slovak hopes of joining NATO and the EU by leaving an authoritarian former prime minister with his worst showing ever, according to preliminary final results released Sunday. The electoral commission results showed Vladimir Meciar's HZDS party first with 19.5 percent, more than 7 percentage points below its 1998 election results. Official final results were expected Monday, but were unlikely to differ much from Sunday's preliminary results. (AP 221739 Sep 02)

BALKANS

¨         Britain will pull nearly 2,000 troops out of peacekeeping duties in the Balkans because of improvements in the security situation there, the government said Friday in London. Defense sources reportedly have been stressing that the re-deployment was planned before the latest Iraq crisis and is not connected to events in that region. The Defense Ministry said the reduction in forces did not signal any reduction in the commitment of NATO or the United Kingdom to the Balkans. (AP 201848 Sep 02)

¨         UN police turned back a convoy of Kosovo Serb refugees who were trying to make a symbolic mass return to the internationally administered province on Saturday, UN and NATO spokesmen said. Peacekeepers stood by as several dozen refugees were refused entry into Kosovo and returned to Serbia proper after a brief stand-off near the southern Serbian village of Merdare. Saturday's convoy was a small part of a much larger planned mass return, which was cancelled at the last minute under pressure from authorities who feared it might provoke clashes. (Reuters 211447 GMT Sep 02)

¨         Three small parties allied so far with Serbian Prime minister Djindjic have switched sides, possibly hurting the chances of his candidate in presidential elections in this dominant Yugoslav republic, a radio station reported Sunday. The three minor parties decided to back President Kostunica in his bid for the Serbian presidency in the Sept. 29 ballot, Belgrade's Radio B92 reported. (AP 221425 Sep 02)

¨         Croatia's vice prime minister, Goran Granic, declared Saturday that the government should fight the UN war crimes court's efforts to indict the country's wartime army chief of staff, Gen. Janko Bobetko, on charges of crimes against humanity. His remarks were consistent with earlier statements, but the government is not expected to make a formal decision before Monday. (AP 211530 Sep 02)

OTHER NEWS

¨         German Chancellor Schroeder faces the task of reforming Europe's largest economy with a sharply reduced majority after he and his coalition partners the Greens narrowly won Sunday's general election. It was a surge by the Greens, who gained 1.9 points to 8.6 percent, that rescued the Red-Green coalition's majority. Their strong pacifist streak could also curtail Schroeder's ambitions of giving Germany a greater say in world policy. (Reuters 230232 GMT Sep 02)