Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

20 February 2003

TERRORISM

• German Interior Minister Otto Schily warned on Wednesday that the risk of new terror attacks would increase sharply if war breaks out in Iraq. “This threat must be taken very seriously, and will increase substantially if it comes to war in Iraq,” he said in an interview on n-tv television. (AP 192104 Feb 03)

IRAQ

• Secretary of State Colin Powell interceded on Wednesday with Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul in an apparently unsuccessful effort to break a deadlock over a U.S. aid package designed to secure Turkey’s help in war with Iraq. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of Turkey’s ruling party, said after a Cabinet meeting that there had been “no positive” outcome in negotiations with the United States. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he expects Turkish cooperation in the end. “I suspect that in one way or another - a variety of ways probably – they’ll end up cooperating in the event that force has to be used in Iraq, he said at a Pentagon news conference. (AP 192318 Feb 03)
  
  
• The United States and Britain intend to introduce a resolution within a week seeking UN authorization for a war against Iraq, both countries said on Wednesday. But diplomats said the Bush administration was not likely to push the resolution to a vote until well into the first week of March after another report from UN weapons inspectors, an indication that a possible attack against Iraq will not take place until the second week of next month at the earliest. The resolution may include a deadline for Iraq to show it is voluntarily giving up any weapons of mass destruction it may have, said Britain’s UN Ambassador. (Reuters 200111 GMT Feb 03)
  
  
• Italy is working on plans to resolve the Iraq crisis, including a deal in which Saddam Hussein might go into exile, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday in Rome. Berlusconi made the comment on exile in parliament during a debate on Italy’s policy in the Iraq crisis, Italian news agencies reported. “We are working for this solution, and not just this solution, to do it in a way that he who might accept exile is offered appropriate guarantees under the authority of international bodies that are in a position to maintain these guarantees,” Berlusconi was quoted as saying. (AP 192035 Feb 03)

BALKANS

• United Nations war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte made a sudden stop at Pristina airport on Wednesday in an apparent effort to soothe a row with the chief UN Kosovo administrator over an arrest. A source from the UN-led Kosovo administration, who declined to be named, said the meeting was planned at the last minute and held behind closed doors. “They will discuss all the latest developments after the arrest of four suspects indicted by the Hague tribunal,” the source added. (Reuters 192005 GMT Feb 03)
  
  
• About 7,000 ethnic Albanians rallied on Wednesday demanding the release of several detainees and asking for more autonomy for the volatile region. Holding U.S. and Albanian flags and a banner that read, “End violence, freedom for liberators,” the protesters demonstrated peacefully in the predominantly ethnic Albanian town of Presevo. “We are demanding new talks about the Presevo Valley’s future status which should be held under international auspices,” said Orhan Rexhepi, a local leader of the ethnic Albanian Movement for Democratic Prosperity. (AP 191736 Feb 03)

OTHER NEWS

• Bulgarian President Parvanov agreed on Wednesday to replace the country’s intelligence chief, Dimo Gyaurov, state radio reported. President Parvanov had accused Gyaurov last November of failure to intercept illegal exports of military hardware to Syria by the state-run TEREM company. (AP 191533 Feb 03)