Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

19 September 2003

BALKANS

• Stability in Bosnia remains fragile despite an eight-year peacekeeping effort, the American commander of NATO-led forces in the country said on Thursday. U.S. Lieutenant General Ward met with General Richard Myers, as the chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff ended two days of visits. “The place is stable. But the stability, I think, is very fragile,” Gen. Ward said in an interview at Eagle Base in Bosnia. “The rule of law has failed to take hold in the way that will ensure a stable peace that’s irreversible,” he added. Gen. Myers was asked about the search for wartime Bosnian Serb President Karadzic and his army commander General Mladic. He said U.S. forces in Iraq found and killed deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s sons Uday and Qusay only after an Iraqi informant came forward in return for the promise of a $30 million reward. “My guess is it will work the same way for those who are indicted for war crimes,” Gen. Myers said, adding that “some citizen is going to have to come forward.” He added that there is “an extensive effort” to find accused war criminals, but nabbing them “is a very difficult task.” (Reuters 181857 GMT Sep 03)

AFGHANISTAN

• The NATO allies on Thursday ordered their military experts to draw up plans for expanding the alliance peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. NATO’s military planners are due to report back Sept. 26 with an assessment of the security risks and detailed plans for a wider ISAF role, diplomats said in Brussels. (AP 181628 Sep 03)

IRAQ

• UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is demanding that the United Nations should have a clear and independent mandate in Iraq before large numbers of political staff return to the country, diplomats said on Thursday. “He wants more than a cosmetic fig leaf, which some UN people think has been the case so far,” said one diplomat, believing current U.S. draft proposals had the same vague political role for the world body as in past resolutions. Another ambassador said the United Nations was perceived as being a partner to the United States in occupying Iraq. “Annan wants a role distinct from the coalition,” the envoy added. (Reuters 182140 GMT Sep 03)
  
  
• France signaled on Thursday that it may help Germany train a new Iraqi police force as both countries renewed their pressure for quickly handing over the country’s government to the Iraqis. French President Chirac, speaking after talks with German Chancellor Schroeder, emphasized he would like to see the transfer of power in post-war Iraq as soon as possible – “in a matter of months, not years.” “That is our common assessment,” President Chirac told reporters after a German-French summit at the chancellery in Berlin. He also endorsed an offer by Chancellor Schroeder to help train new Iraqi police leaders in Germany. “It is self-evident that if the chancellor reaffirms this position here, France will take the same position,” he said - though he stopped short of explicitly offering such training in France. (AP 181730 Sep 03)