Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

15 May 2003

TERRORISM

• An extradition accord between the European Union and the United States covering terrorism and organized crime could be signed in Washington next month, Greek Justice Minister Philippos Petsalnikos said Wednesday. He said talks on securing a deal were moving into a final phase. “An agreement can be reached soon that would allow this to be signed at the EU- U.S. summit on the 25th of June,” Petsalnikos told the European Parliament. (AP 141559 May 03)
  
  
• The suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia show that al-Qaida is still a threat to global security, the head of the international police agency Interpol said on Wednesday. “There have been a number of articles written recently suggesting al-Qaida is dead or that its threat is not as significant as it once was,” said Interpol General Secretary Ronald Noble. “The attacks in Saudi Arabia - large, multiple suicide attacks - show that the fight is far from over,” he added. “The problem is that every attack that succeeds receives much more publicity than 10 that are prevented,” he said at the start of a three-day meeting of European Interpol members in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. However, he conceded that “suicide attacks are difficult, if not impossible, to prevent.” (AP 141349 May 03)
  
  
• The United States chided Syria and Iran on Wednesday for their support for “terrorism” and urged Syria to show its commitment to Middle East peace by pulling its troops out of Lebanon. Speaking at the Foreign Press Center in Washington, White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice described the relationship between America and Syria as a difficult one because of its support for terror activities. “It is frankly a very difficult relationship and it is not one which is likely to improve without some major changes in Syrian behavior,” she said. “We would hope that Syria would recognize that it is Syria’s responsibility to become a contributing power for peace rather than one that detracts from peace by its position in Lebanon,” she added. Rice also repeated U.S. criticism of Iran, which she said was still one of the world’s leading sponsors of terror activities. She said the United States had raised alarms about Iran’s nuclear weapons programs and also believed it allowed al-Qaeda to operate from its territory. (Reuters 142028 GMT May 03)

NATO

• Georgian President Shevardnadze reaffirmed the former Soviet republic’s desire to join NATO, assuring the alliance’s chief on Wednesday that there is “full consensus” on the issue across the nation’s fractious political spectrum. Shevardnadze told NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson that he has set up a government commission charged with forging tighter relations with NATO and the EU. Lord Robertson said the alliance “welcomes Georgia’s ambitions” for closer integration and called the country “a key partner of NATO.” He praised the Caucasus Mountain nation’s participation in the alliance’s Partnership for Peace program and its contributions to peacekeeping efforts in the Balkans and the fight against terrorism. Lord Robertson said the region nestled at the crossroads of Russia, Turkey and the Middle East is “of crucial importance for the stability of the entire Euro-Atlantic area.” He said Russia also will retain a role in the region because of its size and location. (AP 141228 May 03)
  
  
• Despite a historic divide within NATO over U.S. invasion plans for Iraq, alliance leaders are warming to the idea of committing their troops to help stabilize the country, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said. “Although there is not a NATO mission in Iraq yet, I think there is building an enthusiasm for involvement,” Gen. Richard Myers said Wednesday in an interview aboard a C-17 cargo plane. “I think the overall attitude toward Iraq in NATO is positive and on an uptick,” the Air Force general added. Gen. Myers stressed that no decisions about a NATO role in postwar Iraq were made during his talks in Brussels. The Joint Chiefs chairman left the impression that while some tensions remain, the focus has shifted to repairing the damage done to alliance unity. (AP 150105 May 03)
  
  
• Britain’s armed forces are overstretched and under-equipped by their political masters, a committee of British lawmakers warned on Thursday. Parliament’s Defence Committee said a government review of military strategy published last year failed to tackle the growing demands on troops dispatched to the Gulf, Afghanistan, the Balkans and Sierra Leone in the last three years. “The Ministry of Defence has not addressed the risk of over-commitment leading to overstretch,” the committee said in its report on the latest chapter of Britain’s strategic defence review, published last July. The committee said the government had also shown little sense of urgency in getting new equipment and technology for the troops. They also criticised the government for failing to address sufficiently the military implications of the threat since the September 11, 2001 suicide attacks on the United States of a strike by militants on British soil. (Reuters 142147 GMT May 03)

IRAQ

• The United States and its allies - seeking swift UN approval for lifting sanctions on Baghdad - hinted at a bigger political role for the United Nations in forming a new Iraqi government. At the first Security Council sessions to consider a resolution on postwar Iraq issues - cosponsored by the United States, Britain and Spain - the coalition members also on Wednesday sought to address concerns that they wanted to control Iraq’s oil wealth. While U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said the United States expects to put the resolution to a vote sometime next week, the Russian, German and French ambassadors spoke only of opening negotiations, indicating potential rough going for coalition plans. (AP 150052 May 03)
  
  
• U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Steven Pifer met Wednesday with top Ukrainian officials to discuss Ukraine’s participation in the U.S.-led stabilization force in Iraq and postwar reconstruction projects. Pifer said after a meeting in the capital Kiev that the Ukrainian military “has great possibilities that would be useful.” Ukraine was among 10 countries that Washington said agreed to contribute troops to conduct peacekeeping and humanitarian operations in three regions of Iraq. The details are to be discussed later this month at a Warsaw meeting between representatives of the participating countries, said State Secretary of Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry Volodymyr Yelchenko. Ukrainian media have said that this former Soviet republic plans to wait to see what role NATO will play in post-war Iraq before deciding its own position. (AP 141940 May 03)
  
  
• Romania’s top military body approved on Wednesday the dispatch of about 500 peacekeepers to help U.S.-led forces stabilise postwar Iraq. “The council approved the proposal that Romania should participate to the international stability force in Iraq, which should be debated by parliament,” the Supreme Defence Council said in a statement. The mission’s approval by Romania’s parliament is widely seen as a formality. (Reuters 141625 GMT May 03)

BALKANS

• The United States has threatened to cut off military aid to Croatia unless Zagreb agrees by July 1 not to extradite U.S. citizens to the International Criminal Court (ICC), a top foreign ministry official said on Wednesday. But Croatia, already working with the Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal, hopes to join a select group of countries Washington is exempting from signing such accords, Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Simonovic said. “Under the terms of the American Service members Protection Act (ASPA), Croatia could lose US $19 million in military equipment and training assistance should it fail to sign the agreement by July 1,” the U.S. embassy in Croatia said in a statement. Simonovic said he hoped the United States would allow Croatia not to sign an agreement. (Reuters 141324 GMT May 03)