Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

15 July 2003

BALKANS

• Serbia and Montenegro must bring top Bosnian Serb fugitive Ratko Mladic to justice if it wants to create closer ties with NATO, an influential U.S. group promoting expansion of the military alliance said on Monday. “There is frankly only one issue that remains outstanding and that is the issue of General Mladic,” said Bruce Jackson of the non-governmental U.S. Committee on NATO after meeting Serbian leaders including Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic. He urged Belgrade to take action in time for a NATO summit in Turkey in May next year. “This is an urgent matter...as Europe’s doors will not stay open for ever.” (Reuters 141446 GMT Jul 03)

AFGHANISTAN

• Anti-government forces in Afghanistan may increase attacks on international peacekeepers after NATO takes charge of the operation in Kabul next month, the general overseeing the mission said on Monday. British army Gen. Sir Jack Deverell warned that opponents of President Hamid Karzai could resort to more violence out of desperation as they see that the 5,000-strong international force in the capital increasing the authority of the Afghan leadership. “The risks are self evident ... I see no evidence to say that on Aug. 11 (the attacks) will stop,” he told reporters at NATO’s northern European headquarters. Gen. Deverell said NATO force could help President Karzai strengthen its authority around the volatile country, even though its peacekeeping mandate remains limited to Kabul. (AP 141412 Jul 03)

IRAQ

• Facing mounting security threats in Iraq, the U.S. military said on Monday that thousands of soldiers from a key Army division would not return home by September as expected and instead stay in Iraq indefinitely. The 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) was the first American unit to enter Baghdad during the war. The decision to delay the return of thousands of Army soldiers illustrates the seriousness of the ongoing security problems in Iraq. (Reuters 142309 GMT Jul 03)
  
  
• The Arab League chief showed little eagerness to embrace a new U.S.-backed Iraqi national council as its people’s representative, reflecting wider Arab wariness about America’s intentions in Iraq. If the new Iraqi council had been elected, “it would have gained much power and credibility,” Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said in a statement released Sunday night. But other Arabs welcomed the council as an important first step that, as Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher told reporters in his capital Monday, could “lead to the formation of an Iraqi government representative of all the country, elected by the Iraqi people and away from sectarian representation.” (AP 141706 Jul 03)