Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

18 July 2003

IRAQ

• The Defense Department is considering calling up thousands of additional National Guard and Reserve troops in the coming months for service in Iraq, U.S. defense officials said on Thursday. The Pentagon said a total of about 201,000 National Guard and Reserve troops already are on active duty. (Reuters 171613 GMT Jul 03)
  
  
• NATO member Turkey said on Thursday that a new U.S.-backed council governing Iraq failed to adequately represent all ethnic groups in the country, including the Turkmen minority. Ankara fears the U.S. efforts to stabilise Iraq will sideline the Turkmen minority there, with which Turks enjoy close ethnic ties. “It cannot be said that the membership structure of the council suitably reflects with weight and satisfaction all groups of the Iraqi people, including the Turkmens,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement. The ministry statement precedes talks in Ankara between the head of U.S. forces in Iraq, General John Abizaid, and top Turkish military officials, set for late Friday or Saturday. (Reuters 171842 GMT Jul 03)

BALKANS

• Serbia and Montenegro must arrest top Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic if he’s in the country and drop a lawsuit against NATO if it wants to upgrade ties, an alliance official said on Thursday. George Katsirdakis, acting director for Defence Partnership and Cooperation at NATO headquarters in Brussels, said the country must resolve two outstanding problems before joining the partnership programme. “The case against NATO before the International Court of Justice must be lifted and Belgrade must resolve the ICTY- (International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia) related issue concerning Mladic,” he said. (Reuters 171317 GMT Jul 03)
  
  
• NATO peacekeepers on Thursday urged Bosnia’s ethnically split armies to unite under a single command and pursue cost-cutting reforms, an official said. NATO has told Bosnia it cannot join its Partnership for Peace program unless it at least unifies the commands of its two armed forces and puts them under common civilian control. It was also told to reduce the number of its troops. (AP 171220 Jul 03)
  
  
• Senior Albanian leaders told NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson on Thursday that they are committed to getting the formerly communist country into the alliance. “NATO membership is not a gift,” Lord Robertson told reporters in Tirana. “It’s not an honour, it’s not a reward. It is a huge obligation which brings enormous benefits to a country,” he added. (AP 171612 Jul 03)

LIBERIA

• The Bush administration is waiting for West African troops to be deployed in Liberia before deciding whether to prop up a peacekeeping mission in the turbulent nation, a UN official said on Thursday. Jacques Paul Klein, the American diplomat and retired reserve army general who is the new UN envoy for Liberia, told a news conference that the White House was willing to make a commitment once the region showed it could do the same. “The key thing is that we need ECOWAS to move quickly,” Klein said referring to troops from the Economic Community of West African States. “The Americans will not make their decision until the ECOWAS troops are deployed.” (Reuters 172044 GMT Jul 03)