Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

10 July 2003

NAEW-SACEUR

• Aachener/Geilenkirchener Zeitung discusses the current polemics surrounding the refusal of local authorities in the Dutch town of Ondebanken to trim trees which have grown too high and are creating problems for NATO AWACS at the Geilenkirchen air base. The article asserts that the trees have grown 3.5 meters in the last two years. Pilots, particularly in bad weather, are increasingly confronted with take-off problems. In order to achieve a minimum distance to the trees when taking off, aircraft have to ascend stronger and more rapidly with a take-off weight of 150 tons. This, the article notes, can only be achieved by reducing the weight, meaning the aircraft may not take off when fully filled up with gasoline, depending on the weather. Amid rumours that hiring and investments at Geilenkirchen may be stopped if the trees on the Dutch side are not trimmed by Sept. 1, the article quotes a SHAPE spokesman saying Wednesday: "Currently, there is no formal planning to move the AWACS formation from Geilenkirchen. However, if nothing changes and the operational effectiveness is further reduced, that could lead to an investigation to relocate the (E-3A) Component.” The newspaper notes that concern has also been fuelled by a Bonn Presseplan news agency dispatch which claims that a new operational base in Hungary is currently being examined. “According to this report, SACEUR, Gen. Jones has recently expressed his anger about the ‘unsatisfying conditions’ (at Geilenkirchen),” the newspaper notes, adding: “The (Presseplan) dispatch quoted military circles saying Gen. Jones was ‘fed up’ and had ‘run out of patience.’" The newspaper continues: “The spokesman at SHAPE commented that these quotations are taken out of their context but said that the general had emphasized that the trees have to be trimmed in order not to reduce the operational effectiveness and flight safety. He hopes that a respective decision will be taken. The spokesman did not want to comment on possible stops in terms of hiring and investments.” The newspaper further reports that Presseplan quoted E-3A Component Commander Maj. Gen. Winterberger saying that "we are currently examining other alternatives--for example, moving the majority of our aircraft and personnel, as well as recommending a relocation of the base." Noting that against this background, the town of Geilenkirchen is permanently holding talks with the AWACS formation and the Dutch communities of Onderbanken and Brunssum, the article stresses: “The E-3A formation, consisting of 1,800 military and 1,300 civil personnel, has an enormous economic impact not only for Geilenkirchen, but also for the community of Brunssum. The AWACS formation invests about 65 million Euro annually into the region, a large share of which goes to the Netherlands.”
  
  
• Russian media focus on the presentation of a NATO AWACS plane in Tbilisi, Georgia, Wednesday by NAEW Force Commander Maj. Gen. Dora. “An ‘American’ reconnaissance aircraft has been circling the skies over Georgia all day. This was the NATO military showing their Georgian colleagues what modern U.S. air force planes are liked. An AWACS was watched from the ground by Georgian Defense Minister Tevzadze and NATO Maj. Gen. Dora,” reported Moscow’s NTV Mir, July 9. The program noted that the plane carried out no surveillance. But, it stressed, if it did, it would know everything as far as 600 km away, which is the AWACS’ range. The network carried an interview with the head of a Russian arms export magazine in which he remarked that Chechnya could be under the lid of AWACS planes. Moscow’s Itar-TASS, July 9, quoted Gen. Garayev, president of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences, saying that the appearance of a NATO airplane in Georgia’s airspace near the Russian border can be considered a dangerous precedent. “In the past, Georgia allowed the flights of reconnaissance airplanes along the Russian-Georgian border, posing a threat to the national security of our country. The appearance of an AWACS plane is even more alarming,” he reportedly said. Moscow’s Agentstvo Voyennykh Koostey, July 8, announced that Gen. Dora and Tevzadze would discuss cooperation in aerial reconnaissance and Gen. Dora would hold a presentation of the AWACS plane in Tbilisi.

NATO

• According to the daily Lidove Noviny, the costs of the NATO anti-chemical training center to be built in the Czech Republic will be covered by the Czech Defense Ministry since the facility will not be part of the Alliance’s command structure, reported Prague’s CTK, July 9. The dispatch recalled that at the Prague summit, NATO welcomed a Czech proposal to establish the center to train specialists in fighting chemical and biological weapons. According to the original outlines, it noted, funding for the center was to be covered by NATO. The dispatch further quoted Lidove Noviny saying that the change in the plans was confirmed by Defense Minister Kostelka at the latest meeting of the National Security Council. The daily reportedly said the military had concluded that the cost could be covered by “tuition” to be paid by foreigners attending the courses. Gen. Petr Pavel, commander of the Czech specialized armed forces, who is in charge of building the center, was quoted saying: “If the center is to be funded from national sources, it can be no charity…. We will therefore request payment from the states which will use our services.” The newspaper reportedly observed, however, that according to current regulations, payments for the use of the center would not go to the defense but rather to the state budget. Arrangements were therefore being sorted out with lawyers and economists.
  
  
• Prague’s CTK, July 9, quoted a Defense Ministry spokesman saying in Prague Wednesday that the Czech Republic’s airspace will be protected in the next five years by 12 old supersonic fighters and two training aircraft. The Czech Republic will borrow the aircraft from other countries, mostly NATO members. The spokesman reportedly indicated that the plan, proposed by Defense Minister Kostelka, was approved by the government Wednesday. According to the dispatch, the Czech Republic will borrow the aircraft on the basis of intergovernmental agreements or agreements between the Czech Defense Ministry and those of other countries. The Czech Republic has been negotiating the lease with Britain and similar talks are being prepared with the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, France and Canada, the dispatch claimed. It added that the cabinet will make a final decision after Nov. 30, when intergovernmental talks on the matter are completed. “According to government officials, the preparation for a tender for the purchase of new fighters could be started by the end of this year. The purchase of 24 new supersonic fighters remains the final goal,” the dispatch continued.

BALKANS

• AP quotes COMKFOR, Italian Lt. Gen. Mini, saying in an interview Wednesday that a regional peacekeeping force made up of former foes in the Balkans and overseen by NATO eventually could replace the current coalition in Kosovo. According to the dispatch, Gen. Mini said the current peacekeeping operation will continue its mission in the province for “at least another five years.” But, he added, peacekeeping duties eventually could be handed off to troops from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia, Serbia-Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo itself, operating under the auspices and guidance of NATO. Pulling together the region’s armed forces into a joint mission aimed at keeping the peace in Kosovo could help unite the fragile Balkans after a decade of bloody ethnic conflicts, Gen. Mini reportedly said, adding: “We have solved many issues within NATO and within many multinational environments by just having forces together. If the security forces are working together, lots of misunderstandings are solved at a practical level. Then there is not mistrust, but understanding.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NATO commander in Kosovo suggests new peacekeeping force of
former foes

By FISNIK ABRASHI

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) _ A regional peacekeeping force made up of former foes in the Balkans and overseen by NATO eventually could replace the current European-dominated coalition in Kosovo, the alliance's commander here says. Italian Lt. Gen. Fabio Mini, who heads the NATO-led
peacekeeping force in Kosovo, said the current peacekeeping operation will continue its mission in the ethnically tense province for "at least another five years."
But in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, Mini said peacekeeping duties eventually could be handed off to troops from Macedonia, Bosnia, Serbia-Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo itself, operating under the auspices and guidance of NATO. Pulling together the regions' armed forces into a joint mission aimed at keeping the peace in Kosovo could help unite the fragile Balkans after a decade of bloody ethnic conflicts that killed hundreds of thousands of people and drove millions from their homes, Mini said. NATO and the United Nations have been administering Kosovo
since 1999, when 78 days of alliance airstrikes halted former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's brutal crackdown on the province's majority ethnic Albanians.
After the war, tens of thousands of Serbs and other minorities fled Kosovo in fear of revenge attacks by ethnic Albanian extremists. Both sides remain suspicious of each other. Ethnic Albanians who make up more than 90 percent of Kosovo's population, demand independence. But the province formally remains a part of Serbia-Montenegro, the successor state to Yugoslavia, and Serbia continues to claim it _ astance backed by the province's minority Serbs.
The NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo originally numbered 50,000 troops. Today, it has been trimmed to 23,500 soldiers from 37 countries, including 2,500 Americans, with further reductions planned by the end of the year.
"So far, all security in the Balkans has been understood as fighting, as identifying the enemy and then fighting that enemy," Mini said. With peace, that approach "has to be completely changed ... security means cooperation," he said.
Mini did not say what role, if any, he envisions for U.S. forces in Kosovo if peacekeeping duties were to be shifted to Balkan armies. Any such shift would have to be approved by NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Some analysts think his idea is too ambitious."A lot would need to change in the countries in the region for such an idea to work," said Val Percival, Kosovo project director for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, which monitors the Balkans. "An army that has committed war crimes in an area is supposed to patrol and keep the peace in that same area?"
Percival said. She said the region's armies first wouldhave to be placed under civilian oversight and undergo other reforms.
Mini concedes the shift would be difficult but thinks it's worth a try.
"We have solved many issues within NATO and within many multinational environments just by having forces together," Mini said.
"If the security forces are working together, lots of misunderstandings are solved at a practical level," he said. "Then there is not mistrust, but understanding."
(gk/fa/bk)

100855 jul 03GMT