Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

06 August 2003

GENERAL JONES-ROMANIA

• Gen. Jones’ visit to Bucharest generated prominent interest. While plans for an overhaul of the U.S. troop basing in Europe appear to be at the center of the Romanian media’s interest, these generally echo Gen. Jones’ message that no decision has been taken about building new U.S. bases in Eastern Europe. This was typified by the daily Rompres, which wrote Aug. 5: “In reference to American military bases being placed in Romania, Gen. Jones said this was a national decision of the United States, that had not yet been taken and that will be based on consultations with other allies.” The daily further reported that at a joint news conference Tuesday with the Chief of the General Staff of the Romanian Army, Gen. Popescu, Gen. Jones said NATO was eagerly waiting for Romania’s involvement as a future member in the Alliance’s actions. “Gen. Jones said Romania has understood that the military requirements of the 21st century differ from the ones of the 20th century and the reform of the Romanian military system mirrors the changes undergone by NATO itself,” wrote the newspaper, adding: “He noted the Romanian army’s capacity to provide military structures in various operation theaters, such as troops for NBC protection, logistic and communications troops as well as well-trained and flexible forces to be dispatched rapidly.” Bucharest’s Evenimentul Zilei carries what it describes as an exclusive question-and-answer interview with Gen. Jones, in which, among other things, he discusses plans for a NATO Response Force. Gen. Jones is quoted saying: “We must transform our forces in order to respond to multiple threats: fundamentalism, the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, crime, and destabilizing factors that emerge in various parts of the world, which are no longer governed effectively…. Currently, emphasis is being placed on establishing the NRF. The fact that Romania is joining the Alliance now is very important: it has a new perspective on things and the desire to experiment with changes. The NRF needs capabilities such as special forces, better communications, mobile logistics, a better architecture of the intelligence services, command an control systems, and specialists in NBC decontamination able to respond immediately in case of a major incident…. These specializations are as important as bombers, tanks and other pieces of military equipment. You cannot build the NRF with bombers and tanks alone.”

NRF

• Germany can make only a small contribution to the planned NRF during the initial buildup phase, wrote Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Aug. 5, claiming it had been told by German MOD officials that Berlin has only pledged to initially make contributions from the Air Force and Navy, referring to the burden of on-going international missions. As was announced, this contribution would consist of six Tornado aircraft and their crews as well as four naval tasks forces and minesweepers, said the newspaper. Noting that in mid-July, a first conference of NRF force providers took place in Brussels, following the agreement by NATO member states to accelerate the timetable for the first NRF contingent, the article continued: “Plans now envisage creating an approximately 6,000-strong force that would be deployable by mid-October. Originally, the so-called Initial Capacities were to be reached by the end of 2004. The entire force is to be ready by 2006. It will then comprise 20,000 troops. Defense Minister Struck was last confronted with the demands for contributions to the NRF at a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels. As regards the NRF’s core capabilities, the expectations placed in Germany have already been somewhat qualified. Not before the implementation of the fourth buildup phase does Germany consider itself to be capable of providing forces meeting the required level of operational readiness. A second conference of troop providers is due to take place in Brussels in mid-August.” The newspaper, which observed that the initiative to launch the NRF emanated primarily from the United States at NATO’s Prague summit last November, concluded: “The Americans considered the establishment of such a force desirable in view of the difficulties encountered in providing a task force for Afghanistan. Misgivings were voiced in Europe, where some fear the NRF could compete with the buildup of the intended European rapid reaction force, which is to take place in parallel. Last week, Gen. Jones voiced skepticism about whether the conditions for issuing rapid movement orders to the NRF were sufficiently met by all NATO nations. Although Gen. Jones did not directly mention Germany’s parliamentary reservations, his comments could be understood as referring to Germany.”

ISAF

• ISAF’s outgoing commander, German Lt. Gen. Van Heyst, issued a “wake up” call to the international community Wednesday to address rife insecurity in Afghanistan’s strife torn provinces ahead of the 2004 presidential polls, reports AFP. “What I really want to do is to wake up the international community to do each and everything to provide security in the provinces,” the dispatch quotes Gen. Van Heyst saying at his farewell news conference. According to the dispatch, he warned that security had to be enforced before some 25,000 election workers could be deployed in the provinces, where Taliban remnants and extremists linked to renegade former premier Hekmatyar have been regrouping. In another development AP reports Defense Minister Struck told German television Wednesday he favors following the United States and Britain in sending troops to the provinces of Afghanistan to bolster reconstruction, but left open how many troops might be needed and where exactly they would go. “I believe that we should have a greater presence in Afghanistan, in the country. The question is, will we do this together with other nations, where will we do it and on what scale?,” Struck reportedly said. The dispatch recalls that next Monday NATO is set to take over command of ISAF in Kabul under a UN mandate that limits deployment to the capital. It claims that any troops deployed outside Kabul would go under a separate U.S. plan to dispatch teams of soldiers to provincial towns and help reconstruction efforts.

NATO

• With focus on this summer’s European heat wave, European media give prominent coverage to reports that Lisbon has asked NATO to provide water-carrying aircraft and helicopters to help in its continuing battle against the worst wildfires in country’s history that have cost 11 lives. “Portugal has issued a demand to NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center,” AFP quotes a Foreign Ministry spokesman saying and adding that Portuguese authorities specifically asked NATO to supply between four and six Canadair water-dropping aircraft along with three heavy-duty helicopters. A related article in Le Monde quotes the spokesman saying that if the request is accepted, Portugal will send NATO daily reports on the fires as well as forecasts on the evolution of the situation. Another AFP dispatch quotes a NATO spokesman saying, however, that NATO countries may find it difficult to meet the Portuguese request. “We're going to contact member states to see who has what available,” the spokesman reportedly said. But, he added, “there are few countries which possess such capabilities and those which have are using them—that’s going to complicate the task.”