Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

25 June 2003

AFGHANISTAN

• The United Nations special envoy to Afghanistan encouraged Germany on Tuesday to support expanding peacekeeping outside the capital Kabul despite the recent death of four German soldiers in a suicide car bomb. “Afghanistan is certainly in some parts still a dangerous place but I think... in the places we are present... we don’t see really much problems for the Germans if they were there,” UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi told journalists in Berlin. Chancellor Schroeder signalled last month that Germany might be prepared to consider allowing its troops to operate outside Kabul but the bomb there on June 7 which killed four Germans and wounded 31 seems to have prompted a rethink. Germany’s Der Spiegel weekly reported this week that the government now believed operating outside of Kabul was too risky. Speaking after meeting Brahimi, Peter Struck said the German government would only reach a decision in September, when the Bundestag lower house reconvenes after a summer break. (Reuters 241610 GMT Jun 03)
  
  
• The shadowy leader of Afghanistan’s former Taliban regime, Mullah Omar, has named a 10-man leadership council to organise resistance against foreign troops in the country, a news report said on Tuesday. The Pakistani newspaper, The News, quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying Mullah Omar announced the formation of the body in an audio tape sent from his hiding place in Afghanistan. The paper said members of the Rahbari Shura, or leadership council, were mostly Taliban military commanders and most were from the southwest of the country. The paper said the council included former defence minister Mullah Obaidullah and military commanders, including the one-legged Mullah Dadullah and Akhtar Mohammad Usmani. (Reuters 241415 GMT Jun 03)
  

IRAQ

• Supporters and opponents of the U.S.-led war in Iraq joined forces to back a major donors conference in October that will seek financing through 2004 to rebuild the country. Tuesday’s daylong meeting, mostly behind closed doors, brought together representatives from 52 countries, the United Nations, the World Bank and the U.S.-led coalition now running Iraq to discuss reconstruction. (AP 250203 Jun 03)
  
  
• Six British troops were killed and eight wounded in two separate attacks in the worst single death toll sustained by British and U.S. forces since March 23. The British and U.S. forces were hit by a string of attacks on Tuesday, the toughest day in their battle to eliminate resistance by what they brand as die-hard Saddam loyalists. “Coalition forces have worked hard to secure Iraq...They will not be deflected from their efforts by the enemies of peace,” Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told a solemn parliament, as Queen Elizabeth expressed sorrow on behalf of the nation. (Reuters 250047 GMT Jun 03)
  
  
• Ankara is to widen its support for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq as it works to repair ties with Washington, damaged in March by its refusal to allow U.S. troops to attack from Turkey, a senior official said on Tuesday. NATO member Turkey will permit all members of the U.S.-led coalition to use its ports and airbases to transport materials and supplies to the war-torn country but not troops and weapons. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said he will travel to the United States in July for talks with U.S. officials. The Turkish military would soon announce which ports and airbases would be made available to the U.S.-led coalition under the scope of the UN resolution, an official said. (Reuters 241436 GMT Jun 03)

ICC

• Twelve countries preparing to join the European Union backed the EU’s stance on Tuesday in support of the International Criminal Court, which has been criticized by the United States. However one of the 12, Romania, said its support for the court did not affect its agreement with the United States exempting U.S. citizens from war crimes prosecutions at the new tribunal. The EU says countries seeking to join it should back the ICC and not to sign agreements granting U.S. citizens blanket immunity. Instead, any bilateral deals should be within guidelines agreed by the EU in September. The court dispute is expected to loom large at an EU-US summit Wednesday in Washington. (AP 242044 Jun 03)