Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

21 May 2003

IRAQ

• In a sign that NATO is beginning to heal divisions over Iraq, the alliance is preparing to help Poland run a peacekeeping force in one of the military zones being formed to stabilize the country, diplomats said Tuesday. Ambassadors from all 19 NATO allies are expected Wednesday to approve an order for alliance military experts to draft a technical support package for the Poles. The assistance is also expected to involve intelligence sharing, communications and logistics, but as yet no direct NATO involvement on the ground in Iraq. "We are not asking too much," said Jerzy Nowak, Poland's ambassador to NATO. "I do not see any problems." "NATO needs to be revived ... It needs to go out where the problems are, and we're just about to make that decision tomorrow in Brussels on Iraq," Nicholas Burns, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO told BBC radio Tuesday. Diplomats at NATO headquarters have been discussing the coalition playing a central role in a longer term peacekeeping mission. Although allies remain open to the idea, Secretary General Lord Robertson stressed no decision on that was imminent. "That is not on the agenda yet, or in the foreseeable future," he told reporters.(AP 201938 May 03 GMT)

BALKANS

• The NATO-led peace force in Bosnia hopes to arrest former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and 20 other indicted war crimes suspects before ending its mission, its commander said on Tuesday. General William Ward said the task of uniting and shrinking Bosnia's oversized, ethnically based armed forces was also incomplete. "There is still some unfinished business. There are still persons indicted for war crimes who are out there that we want to apprehend -- Karadzic, Mladic and others," he said in an interview. Ward said he did not know if SFOR was going to be replaced by an EU-led force in 2004. The U.S. general said he did not expect cuts in SFOR this year or next but such a decision was subject to twice-yearly NATO review.(Reuters 1609 200503 GMT)

OTHER NEWS

• Croatia said on Tuesday it would not meet a July 1 deadline to promise Washington not to extradite U.S. citizens to the newly established International Criminal Court (ICC). The United States has threatened to cut off military aid to Croatia unless Zagreb signs such an accord by July 1, piling more pressure on relations already strained by Zagreb's lukewarm support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Croatia has handed over suspects to the UN war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia, and the government argues that it cannot therefore refuse to extradite U.S. citizens to the ICC. "We are caught between two sides. We are seeking a compromise and hope to get (U.S.) understanding for our situation, but the bottom line is that we will not sign the accord now," a cabinet source told Reuters. "We think we have good reasons to believe we can convince the Americans to exempt us, although that is primarily reserved for NATO members and their strategic partners," the source said.(AP 1400 200503 GMT)
  
  
• Hundreds of U.S. service personnel have been ordered to return home after three months at a Romanian air base used as a supply point during the Iraq war, a U.S. official said Tuesday. Over 1,000 troops of the U.S. 458th Air Expeditionary Group will be redeployed to bases in Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States, said Tech. Sgt. James Fisher, an Air Force spokesman. About 150 U.S. Marines will remain at the base in the Black Sea port of Constanta, together with Romanian troops. It was not immediately clear when the redeployment would begin.(AP 201602 May 03 GMT)