Military

WAR ON TERRORISM

¨         Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers met with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and other top Georgian officials on Sunday as he prepares to review the U.S. anti-terrorist training program in the former Soviet republic. On Monday, Gen. Myers is due to review the US $64 million "train and equip" program, which is instructing Georgian army units in anti-terrorist techniques and giving them with weapons, ammunition, uniforms, and other equipment. The U.S. has said the training in Georgia is designed to help the military deal with the situation in the Pankisi Gorge.  Gen. Myers declined to comment on Georgia's chances of joining the NATO alliance, saying the question was a political not a military one. President Shevardnadze has said Georgia will seek NATO membership. (AP 241729 Nov 02)

¨         The Chechen warlord who says he was behind last month's mass hostage-taking in Moscow warned on Saturday that his group would launch new strikes in Russia if it did not pull its troops out of Chechnya. Chechen rebel commander Shamil Basayev told NATO leaders in an open letter that they should put pressure on Moscow to pull out of the Muslim North Caucasus territory and start peace negotiations. The guerrilla statement was heavy with reproach for NATO leaders and the West whom it accused of hypocritically defending the "barbaric aggression" of Russian forces in Chechnya. (Reuters 231756 GMT Nov 02)

¨         The Group of 20 countries resolved on Saturday to combat terrorist funding and continue efforts to eliminate financial irregularities such as money laundering plaguing the world economy. "While the meeting in Canada was shadowed by the events of September 11, 2001, today the recent tragic events in Bali and Moscow reinforce our resolve to combat terrorism and those that would fund it," the G-20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs said in a statement at the end of a two-day summit in the Indian capital, New Delhi. (Reuters 231354 GMT Nov 02)

AFGHANISTAN

¨         The UN Security Council has decided to extend the mandate of the 22-nation international security force in Afghanistan a month early so Germany and the Netherlands can get approval from their parliaments to take over its command, Britain's UN ambassador said. On Friday, Turkish Maj. Gen. Hilmi Akin Zorlu, the current commander of the international force, said that he expected the peacekeeping force to remain in Afghanistan two to three more years to complete the training and deployment of a new Afghan army. (AP 250431 Nov 02)

¨         The Turkish commander of the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan said on Friday he feared that a war against Iraq could lead to "terrorist" attacks against his forces in Kabul. Saying he was speaking as ISAF commander, and not as a Turkish general, Zorlu said: "If there is any Iraqi operation, it means that the terrorist activities against ISAF forces may start. This is our concern, my concern, as ISAF commander." (Reuters 222312 GMT Nov 02)

IRAQ

¨         Iraqi authorities made public on Sunday an angry letter to the United Nations over a tough UN resolution ahead of the first weapons inspections in Iraq in four years. Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said in a November 23 letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that Baghdad accepted UN resolution 1441 in hopes of sparing its people war but felt that the resolution provided the United States with a pretext to launch an attack on Iraq. "The real motive was to create pretexts to attack Iraq under an international cover," Sabri wrote in the letter, adding that the resolution gave the UN inspectors tyrannical authority. (Reuters 242129 GMT Nov 02)

¨         German Defense Minister Peter Struck on Sunday dismissed as false a newspaper report that the United States has asked for a commitment of German anti-aircraft missiles if there is an attack on Iraq. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Sunday quoted anonymous German government sources as saying the United States has asked for German Patriot missiles, though has not said where they were needed. The sources speculated, however, that they might be needed for the defense of Israel or Turkey. Struck, speaking on ZDF television, bluntly rejected the report. "The rockets were not requested," he said. (AP 241230 Nov 02)

¨         Turkish officials are preparing to send troops up to 100 km into northern Iraq on what they say is a mission to prevent an influx of refugees in the event that a war there sets off a mass movement toward Turkey's borders, The New York Times said on Saturday. The plan, which is being circulated among top government officials, is giving rise to fears that it could be used as a cover for the Turkish military to snuff out any attempt by Iraqi Kurds to set up their own state if President Saddam Hussein falls from power, the Times said. Turkish officials were not immediately available to comment on the plan. (Reuters 231918 GMT Nov 02)

NATO

¨         A majority of Finns remain opposed to joining NATO, but many think the non-aligned country will end up joining the enlarging military alliance anyway, an opinion poll showed on Saturday. The survey by polling agency Suomen Gallup for a group of regional papers showed 62 percent of Finns do not want their country to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, while 18 percent said it should. Some 20 percent did not give an opinion. But despite the opposition, 70 percent of Finns surveyed for the poll said they believed the country would nevertheless decide to apply for membership in the coming years. (Reuters 231328 GMT Nov 02)

EU

¨         France and Germany called on Friday for new rules to make it easier for the EU to carry out military operations, in fresh signs of a revival of their partnership at the bloc's centre. In what appeared to be a slap in the face for Britain, the two countries urged European Union member states to press ahead with defence cooperation by majority vote when some do not want to participate. France and Germany said the cooperation could include a joint threat assessment, multinational forces with an integrated command, armaments procurement and developing military capabilities, training, developing a common doctrine and managing human resources. (Reuters 221847 GMT Nov 02)

BALKANS

¨         Six U.S. senators visited Kosovo on Saturday, meeting with NATO's military commander in Europe, American Gen. Joseph Ralston and other officials, a statement from the local U.S. representative's office said. "This visit demonstrates the continued interest and commitment of the United States to fulfilling KFOR's mandate of creating a safe and secure environment in Kosovo," Reno Harnish, the head of the U.S. office in Kosovo, said. (AP 231640 Nov 02)

¨         NATO-led peacekeepers said on Friday they had found nearly eight tonnes of weapons and ammunition in a private warehouse in northwestern Bosnia. SFOR said the find was so big it would take several days for peacekeepers to be sure of the exact quantity and types of weapons involved. A SFOR spokesman said an investigation would reveal whether the weapons found in the town of Prijedor were left over from Bosnia's 1992-95 war and if they were intended for export. (Reuters 221413 GMT Nov 02)