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SHAPE News Morning Update
16
September 2003
AFGHANISTAN
- NATO
considers proposals to expand Kabul peacekeeping mission
LIBERIA
- U.S.
circulates draft resolution calling for UN peacekeeping
force of up to 15,000 for Liberia
BALKANS
- Bosnia
Serbs to sell wartime weaponry via tender
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AFGHANISTAN
- European
nations are considering a request from the United States and
Germany for the UN peacekeeping force in Afghanistan to expand
its activities outside the capital, Kabul, but have yet to
discuss sending more troops, officials said Monday in Brussels.
“There was a general agreement that this is
something that needs to be looked at, but there needs to be
very careful consideration,” said NATO Secretary General
Lord Robertson. He spoke to reporters after a meeting of ambassadors
from NATO and European Union nations. Officials said there
was wide backing for the proposal, although no timetable has
been set for a decision. Speaking at EU headquarters,
Lord Robertson said their was no decision yet to ask NATO’s
military experts to draw up plans for an expanded force.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana
said the EU was committed to help Afghanistan. (AP 151408
Sep 03)
LIBERIA
- The
United States called for the United Nations to send up to
15,000 peacekeepers and 900 police officers to Liberia along
with civilian staff to help restore peace and start rebuilding
the battered nation. The U.S. draft resolution circulated
on Monday to Security Council members asks Secretary-General
Kofi Annan to transfer authority to a new UN peacekeeping
force in October. The council was scheduled to receive an
open briefing on Liberia on Tuesday. (AP 160202 Sep 03)
BALKANS
- The
Bosnian Serb government on Monday opened bids from 11 foreign
and local firms that have applied to buy hundreds of tonnes
of weaponry and ammunition left over from the 1992-5 Bosnian
war. Government defence official Vladislav Jokic
said the final selection would be made after NATO-led peacekeepers
checked the firms to prevent the weapons from ending up in
countries banned from receiving them by international embargoes.
The offer included 105 tanks, close to 20,000 machineguns,
13,000 sub-machine guns, 613 pistols, 21 missiles and 13 million
artillery pieces and ammunition, Jokic told a news conference.
He added that bidders came from Canada, Serbia and Montenegro
and Bosnia. (Reuters 151747 GMT Sep 03)
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