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Military


31 March 2003 Military News

Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

  • Coalition Forces in Afghanistan See Enemy Attacks Increase AFPS 31 Mar 2003 -- Since the beginning of action in Iraq, there has been an increase in attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan, Combined Joint Task Force- 180 officials said.
  • AFGHANISTAN/U-S VOA 31 Mar 2003 -- Officials of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul say they were deliberately targeted late Sunday, when two rockets were fired at their facilities. U-S-led coalition forces, known as I-SAF, say several of their bases in southern and eastern Afghanistan were also attacked late Sunday by suspected remnants of the Taleban and al-Qaida.
  • EDITORIAL: PROGRESS IN AFGHANISTAN VOA 31 Mar 2003 -- The people of Afghanistan are enjoying their freedom. When the Taleban took over in 1996, they imposed their extremist Islamic views on the Afghan people. Depictions of humans and animals were considered to be blasphemous. Most of the art collection in the National Museum in Kabul was destroyed or looted. Historical treasures such as the giant statues of Buddha carved into a mountain near the town of Bamiyan were blown up. Artists were forced to flee the country.
  • AFGHANISTAN U-S VOA 31 Mar 2003 -- Officials of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul say they were deliberately targeted late Sunday when two rockets were fired at their facilities. U-S led coalition forces say several of their bases in southern and eastern Afghanistan were also attacked late Sunday by suspected remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaida.
  • Warriors at home keep Minot charged ACCNS 31 Mar 2003 -- Operation Iraqi Freedom's impact reaches from the desert around the globe to the bases that deployed airmen call home.

Defense Policy / Programs

  • EDWARD C. "PETE" ALDRIDGE TO RETIRE 31 Mar 2003 -- The Department of Defense announced today that Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L) Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge, Jr., will retire from government effective May 23, 2003. Principal Deputy Under Secretary (AT&L) Michael W. Wynne will serve as acting under secretary of defense (AT&L) effective that date.
  • Building with care : Ammo troops ensure bombs stay on course USAFENS 31 Mar 2003 -- They descended here with one focus in mind; building bombs. Not just any bombs. They wanted to build the kind that won't come back. It's the lifeblood of any ammo troop.
  • Rifle platoon enhances CJTF-HOA security USMC News 31 Mar 2003 -- Marines from Command Logistics Element, Marine Central Command, here in support of Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, are going back to their Marine Corps roots - that every Marine is a rifleman.
  • Pegasus shows MEDEVAC capabilities USMC News 31 Mar 2003 -- Besides providing assault support for small-unit level training exercises during its deployment to the Republic of the Philippines, Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 plays another role, one that could possibly save lives.
  • C-130s are SUVs of airlift AFPN 31 Mar 2003 -- In a world where fighters are seen as the sleek Lamborghinis of the flying world, C-130s are still carrying the load as the SUVs of airlift. According to workers from of the C-130 system program office and the production people who maintain the aircraft here, that is just what it should be doing.
  • Strykers on road to certification Army News 31 Mar 2003 -- The Army's Transformation vehicle, the Stryker, is one step closer to being certified as ready for operational missions.
  • New duds keeping flyers warm, dry, stylish NAVAIR 31 Mar 2003 -- Tara Capecci knows what you have on under that flight suit, and she is not impressed.
  • Airship-based sensors go whale watching NAVAIR 31 Mar 2003 -- A pair of unusual technologies came together over the Florida surf this winter to accomplish an unusual objective. State-of-the-art sensor technology being tested and used at NAS Pax River was married to airship (otherwise known as a blimp) technology that pre-dates the Civil War. The objective: high-tech whale-watching.
  • New Web-Based Tool Helping Commands Measure Alignment Navy NewStand 31 Mar 2003 -- An innovative Web-based management tool is helping several commands measure how effectively their Sailors are working together to accomplish their primary mission.

  • UGANDA: Museveni says gov't needs to spend more on defence IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda said on Sunday that the government was not spending enough on defence.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

  • DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL United Nations 31 Mar 2003

  • U-S / ISRAEL / MIDEAST VOA 31 Mar 2003 -- Israel's new foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, met with top U-S officials Monday, as the Bush administration prepared for the early release of the international "roadmap" to an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord. Bush National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, meanwhile, said the peace plan is not negotiable.
  • ISRAEL BOMBING / IRAQ VOA 31 Mar 2003 -- The militant Palestinian group, Islamic Jihad, is describing its suicide bombing on Sunday in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya as a gift to the Iraqi people. The State Department Designated terrorist group is vowing to step up such attacks in support of Iraq.
  • UN envoy condemns suicide bombing in Israel UN News Centre 31 Mar 2003 -- The senior United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process, Terje Roed-Larsen, has strongly condemned the suicide bombing over the weekend in the Israeli town of Netanya, calling it an "outrageous and cowardly act."

  • SOMALIA: TNG says it will not leave Kenya peace conference IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- A spokesman for TNG Prime Minister Hassan Abshir Farah said on Monday that Somalia's Transitional National Government was not planning to leave peace talks in Nairobi, Kenya, despite a meeting in Mogadishu at the weekend between the TNG and faction leaders.
  • Experts recommend UN sanctions for violators of arms embargo in Somalia UN News Centre 31 Mar 2003 -- After finding a consistent pattern of breaches of the arms embargo against Somalia, a United Nations expert panel has recommended that the Security Council send a clear signal that all future violators will be sanctioned.

  • DR of Congo: UN mission deplores latest round of rebel violence UN News Centre 31 Mar 2003 -- The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has denounced as "incomprehensible and unjustifiable " a rebel group's provocative assault on and recapture of two small eastern towns from a rival faction within hours of signing an agreement on the country's future military structure.
  • U-N / CONGO VOA 31 Mar 2003 -- Rights organizations are calling for the U-N Human Rights Commission to put pressure on all sides involved in the fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The commission must do something, they say, to stop the widespread slaughter of civilians. The groups are asking the commission to conduct an inquiry into human-rights violations committed by all the warring parties.
  • DRC: UN dismisses claims of Rwandan troops in DRC IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- The UN secretary-general's representative in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Amos Namanga Ngongi, dismissed on Friday claims that Rwandan troops had re-entered the DRC.
  • DRC: Rebel appoints ex-government officers IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- The Rwandan-backed movement in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), has appointed to its ranks four former army officers who had been condemned to death the assassination of President Laurent-Desire Kabila.

  • ANGOLA: World Bank boost to reintegration programme IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- The World Bank (WB) on Monday said two recently approved projects for Angola worth nearly US $50 million would bolster reconstruction and economic recovery efforts following decades of civil war.
  • ANGOLA: UNITA welcomes vocational training for ex-soldiers IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- Angola's former rebel movement UNITA on Monday welcomed an announcement that 650 former soldiers would receive vocational training in the coming weeks.

  • SUDAN: No improvement on human rights front, UN says IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- The human rights situation has not improved in either the north or rebel-held south of Sudan, according to Gerhart Baum, the UN's Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Sudan.
  • ERITREA: Refugee repatriations from Sudan to resume IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, says the voluntary repatriation of Eritreans from Sudan is set to resume soon.
  • NIGERIA: Seven killed as police clash with separatists IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- At least seven members of a group campaigning for an independent Biafra were killed on Saturday in southeast Nigeria during a confrontation with the police, police and witnesses said.
  • LIBERIA: Humanitarian workers and refugees still missing in the east IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- The whereabouts of most of the 87 humanitarian workers and 5,268 refugees, returnees and third-country nationals who were dispersed by fighting in northeastern Liberia last week were still unknown, the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Monday. The refugees, returnees and TCNs, who had fled recent fighting in western Cote d'Ivoire, had been in a transit camp in Grand Gedeh County.
  • SIERRA LEONE: UNAMSIL's mandate extended by six months IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- The United Nations Security Council on Friday extended the mandate of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) by six months to 30 September.

News Reports

  • SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 31 Mar 2003
  • SHAPE News Summary Analysis SHAPE 31 Mar 2003
  • U.S. Issues Scathing Report of Cuba's Human Rights Record Washington File 31 Mar 2003 -- The Cuban regime of Fidel Castro continues to broadly violate the human rights of its citizens, according to a new report by the U.S. State Department.
  • COLOMBIA / RIGHTS DEFENDERS VOA 31 Mar 2003 -- A Colombian human rights defender has been given one of the most prestigious awards of the human rights movement. Alirio Uribe Munoz was honored during the annual meeting of the U-N Human Rights Commission.
  • ZIMBABWE / POLITICS VOA 31 Mar 2003 -- Results of a by-election show Zimbabwe's opposition retained both parliamentary seats that were contested and its political dominance in the capital, Harare. While the opposition was pleased with the results, it is concerned about the arrest of the party vice-president.
  • INDIA TEMPLE VOA 31 Mar 2003 -- India's Supreme Court has rejected a government plea to lift a ban on religious activity around a disputed holy site claimed by both Hindus and Muslims. The verdict has angered Hindu hardliners leading a controversial campaign to build a temple on the site, and they are threatening to take what they are calling "direct action" to gain control of the disputed area.
  • "Nuclear Genocide? Piercing Depleted Urainium Myths," by Ronald Bailey Washington File 31 Mar 2003 -- "The United States has conducted two nuclear wars. The first is against Japan in 1945, the second in Kuwait and Iraq in 1991." So declares activist Helen Caldicott in a half-page ad placed by a Japanese anti-nuclear group in the March 24 New York Times. If you didn't hear about the Persian Gulf Hiroshima, it's because she's actually referring to depleted uranium (DU) munitions. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark says that these "are an unacceptable threat to life, a violation of international law and an assault on human dignity."
  • SERBIA / POL VOA 31 Mar 2003 -- In the three weeks since Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was assassinated, the government has mounted a huge crackdown against the organized crime gangs believed to be linked to the murder. Mr. Djindjic's allies in the government have surprised observers with their resolve to attack corruption and push forward their slain leader's reform agenda.
  • NIGERIA / UNREST VOA 31 Mar 2003 -- Authorities in Nigeria say scores of people are missing, following clashes between supporters of President Olusegun Obasanjo's party and a rival political group.
  • ASIA PNEUMONIA VOA 31 Mar 2003 -- Countries around Asia are checking airline passengers for signs of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. In Hong Kong, the outbreak has spread to hundreds of residents in a single apartment complex.
  • CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Thousands march in support of Bozize IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- Thousands of people, estimated at 50,000, staged a demonstration on Friday in the streets of the Central African Republic (CAR) capital, Bangui, in support of Francois Bozize, the new CAR leader who took power in a coup on 15 March.
  • CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC-UGANDA: Ex-CAR President Kolinga not in Uganda, minister says IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- The Ugandan government has denied that the former president of Central African Republic, Andre Kolingba, is in exile in Kampala, according to the Ugandan state-owned New Vision.
  • BURUNDI: President vows to step down on 1 May IRIN 31 Mar 2003 -- President Pierre Buyoya of Burundi has promised to leave office on 1 May, as agreed in a power-sharing deal with some rebel groups and political organisations.



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