Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

13 June 2003

NATO

• The United States threatened on Thursday to withhold money for a new NATO headquarters and ban Americans from attending alliance meetings unless Belgium changes a law under which the U.S. Army commander in Iraq, Tommy Franks, was charged with war crimes. In a news conference, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld criticized a decade-old Belgian law that claims a right to prosecute war crimes committed anywhere by anyone. Rumsfeld said the United States rejects the assertion that Belgium has such jurisdiction, a point that other American officials have argued over the past two years. “Belgium appears not to respect the sovereignty of other countries,” Rumsfeld said, noting that Americans sued so far include Franks, the commander of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; former Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf; Vice President Dick Cheney; Secretary of State Colin Powell and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The United States “will have to seriously consider” whether to allow its officials to come, he said. “Belgium needs to recognize that there are consequences to its actions,” Rumsfeld said, and he added that the United States would oppose any further spending for a new NATO headquarters, which is still in an early planning and design phase.(AP 121852 Jun 03 GMT)

BALKANS

• France urged NATO on Thursday to let the EU take over its peacekeeping role in Bosnia, building on its success in replacing the U.S.-led alliance in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. French Defence Minister Alliot-Marie told a news conference she had told her NATO colleagues, including Defence Secretary Rumsfeld, that the Macedonia (sic) handover was a model for what should happen in Bosnia. “Everyone expressed delight at they way the EU had taken over from NATO in Macedonia (sic), both in the reaction of the Macedonian (sic) authorities and population, after a certain scepticism, and also because it was the first such operation and it could serve as a model, notably for Bosnia,” she said. “I pointed out strongly that the NATO-EU relationship must be based on transparency and confidence. If some people are permanently suspicious, we will not be able to be effective in our common work for peace and security,” she added.(Reuters 1803 120603 GMT)

EU

• The EU launched its first military operation outside Europe on Thursday, giving the green light for the deployment of a French-led peacekeeping force to try to halt ethnic bloodshed in eastern Congo. Responding to an appeal from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the force of between 1,400 and 1,500 will move into the eastern town of Bunia where hundreds of people have been killed in fighting between the Lendu and Hema tribes. “No one underestimates the difficulty of the mission. But we are determined to succeed in helping the UN overcome the current humanitarian and security crisis in Bunia,” EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in a statement. France, which dispatched its first troops to the region last week, will provide the bulk of the force with about 900 soldiers, with contributions from several other EU and non-EU states, including Britain, Sweden, Canada and South Africa. French army spokesman Colonel Christian Baptiste said negotiations were continuing to fix the exact contributions of the other countries.(Reuters 1309 120603 GMT)

MISSILE DEFENSE

• Canadian officials will open formal talks in Washington later this month on whether Ottawa should sign up to the controversial U.S. missile defense system, Defence Minister McCallum said on Thursday. Despite strong domestic opposition to the proposed defense shield, Canadian ministers say the country cannot afford to stand on one side and let the United States decide alone how best to protect the North American continent. McCallum, speaking from Brussels after a NATO meeting, said he had had a “good discussion” about missile defense with Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld during the gathering. “I hope not too many meetings will be required (and) from the tone of this first meeting with Mr. Rumsfeld I'm hopeful there won't be huge obstacles to an agreement,” he said. “But this will be the first meeting (between officials) and one never knows until one gets there what, in detail, the other side is likely to propose,” he told reporters.(Reuters 1753 120603 GMT)