Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

8 May 2003

SACEUR-GREECE

• Athens demanded from the Alliance an upgraded role in NATO's new structure. Both Foreign Minister Papandreou and Defense Minister Papandoniou raised the issue during their meetings Tuesday with Gen. Jones, reported Greek daily To Vima, May 6. The newspaper explained that for reasons of economy, functionality and operational activity as well as due to the accession of new countries to NATO, the Alliance intends to abolish its headquarters in Southeast Europe. It added that Athens agrees with that provided that its role in the Alliance is upgraded. In this way Greece will either maintain "third-level" headquarters in Northern Greece or take command of the NATO naval headquarters in the Mediterranean. The article quoted Papandoniou insisting that "Greece will battle to maintain a strong presence."

NATO

• According to Madrid’s La Razon, May 7, the leaders of Spain, Britain and the United States have reached a secret agreement to secure Spanish control over the Strait of Gibraltar in NATO. The agreement, said to have been reached at the Iraq war summit in the Azores on March 16, would include shared sovereignty over the Rock and a continued British military presence there. It would also involve a NATO commitment to defend Spain’s enclaves in North Africa. The daily claimed that President Bush is to put pressure on NATO to ensure that, in the new command structure which the Alliance’s member countries are negotiating, Spain takes over control of the Strait of Gibraltar. This is reportedly one of the points of a secret agreement reached by Bush, Blair and Prime Minister Aznar at the meeting in the Azores to secure Spain’s support for the Anglo-American coalition in the Iraq war. According to the newspaper, the political and strategic operation planned in the Azores includes Spain agreeing to Britain’s maintenance of its military presence on the Rock.

A commentary in the Washington Post suggests that the swift U.S. –led victory in Iraq has given NATO a chance to revive itself as a military alliance and instrument of transatlantic partnership.
Despite the lingering bitterness over the Iraq debate, the allies have managed to agree two weeks ago that NATO would take over the peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan, a vital mission and one that, in its reach far beyond Europe, would have been inconceivable a few years ago, the daily says, adding: “Even more significant are the discussions now quietly taking place in Brussels about a possible NATO role in Iraq—an operation that would greatly relieve the postwar burden on the United States and go a long way toward overcoming the split over the war. If well managed, a NATO mission in Iraq could be the beginning of a larger collaboration between Europe and the United States to promote stability and democracy in the greater Middle Est.”

IRAQ

• Claiming that “Poland is considering a formal appeal to NATO for support of its troops in Iraq,” Warsaw’s Gazeta Wyborcza writes that the Polish Ambassador to NATO, Jerzy Novak, does not hide that informal talks on NATO support for Polish troops in Iraq have been going on with all of Warsaw’s allies, in particular with France and Germany. “We are discussing NATO planning resources, logistics, satellite reconnaissance, anything SHAPE … has to offer,” stresses the newspaper. It quotes sources at NATO saying Poland might raise the issue within the Alliance in a matter of days. Earlier, Reuters reports Defense Minister Struck told German radio Thursday that Germany might consider sending troops to Iraq as part of any NATO force but again rejected a proposal by Warsaw for soldiers from a Polish-German-Danish corps to go to Iraq. “If the UN asked NATO for military protection, then Germany would also participate in examining the question of who can provide which capabilities,” Struck reportedly said. Asked if German troops could participate in any NATO operation, he replied: “That will have to be examined.” He added, however, that at present it did not seem as if the U.S. would ask NATO to get involved in such a mission.
  
  
• Generals from more than a dozen countries met in London Thursday to draw up plans for an international military stabilization force for Iraq, reports Reuters. The dispatch quotes a British military source saying the participants included Germany and adding: “It’s basically bringing together those who are already on the ground with those who have considered offering to participate.” He reportedly said “14 or 15” countries were participating in the meetings, but declined to name them, saying some had yet to go public with their willingness to participate.
  
  
• Reuters reports that after suspending its own embargoes against Iraq, the United States hopes to introduce a Security Council resolution by Friday that will lift decade-old UN sanctions and allow Iraq oil exports to resume. Diplomats are quoted saying the resolution would phase out the UN oil-for-food humanitarian program over several months but honor some of the existing $13 billion in outstanding contracts for food, medicine and other civilian goods ordered by the ousted government of Saddam Hussein. According to the dispatch, the draft is expected to be given to all 15 council members this week and will include a “vital role” for the UN in a post-war Iraq. The resolution reportedly says that a UN representative named by Secretary General Kofi Annan would have a seat on a board that would oversee revenues from Iraq’s oil industry, along with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and others. But, notes the dispatch, the draft does not call for the return of UN arms inspectors to verify that Iraq no longer has alleged weapons of mass destruction, as specified in UN resolutions over the past decade and which council members have demanded.

BALKANS

• According to AFP, an SFOR spokesman said Thursday NATO-led forces arrested a Bosnian Serb suspected to be the bodyguard of Ljubomir Borovcanin, a fugitive war crimes suspect. Dragan Vasiljevic, who was arrested in his house in the northeastern town of Bijeljina, is “suspected of being part of the network that is supporting persons indicted for war crimes,” the spokesman reportedly said. He added that Vasiljevic, who was arrested in his house in the northern town of Bijeljina, was being questioned by SFOR and would be turned over to the authorities of Republika Srpska. No casualties occurred during the arrest, the spokesman is further quoted saying. The dispatch observes that it is the first time that SFOR has arrested a person close to a war crimes suspect.

ESDP

• Corriere della Sera reports that Italy’s Chief of Defense Staff, Gen. Mosca Moschini, has been appointed to the post of EU Military Committee chief. The nomination will be submitted to the European Council which is expected to ratify it on May 19. Gen. Moschini will retain his current position until end of April 2004, at which time he will replace the current EU Military Committee head, Finnish Gen. Hagglund, according to the newspaper.