Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

23 September 2003

NATO

• NATO on Monday named Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap De Hoop Scheffer to be its new head as the military alliance works to transform itself to fight terrorism and seeks to bury deep differences over the Iraq war. De Hoop Scheffer, whose appointment was welcomed by the United States and Britain, billed himself as a staunch European and Atlanticist at a news conference after the announcement by the North Atlantic Council. "I have accepted the nomination as an Atlanticist and as a European. I think these two elements can be combined very well because the essence of NATO is building on that permanent bridge between the two continents," he said. De Hoop Scheffer, a 55-year-old career diplomat who has served as foreign minister in two Dutch centre-right coalitions, has worked at NATO headquarters as a diplomat. Dick Leurdijk, a U.N. and NATO specialist at the Dutch Institute for International Relations, expected De Hoop Scheffer would continue in the pragmatic vein of his predecessor. "He... will continue along the lines set by Robertson, operating by consensus and executing political decisions. He has a lot on his plate," Leurdijk said. (Reuters 221901 GMT Sep 03)
  
  
• The NATO alliance, created half a century ago to fight the Cold War, has found a new role tackling global instability, Secretary General designate Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on Monday. "The enemy is not the traditional enemy any more, but the enemy for instance is international terrorism, the enemy is instability, the enemy is insecurity, that is the reason why NATO is in Afghanistan, why NATO is supporting the Polish division in Iraq. That is the new enemy," he told BBC television. "The alliance is as relevant and alive and kicking as ever. The only thing is that the international security surroundings and scene and structure have changed drastically and dramatically", said the serving Dutch foreign minister, who takes over from British NATO chief George Robertson in January. "NATO can do the job and NATO is doing the job." Scheffer said NATO had a vital role to play in bridging the transatlantic gap with the United States and Canada that had widened into a chasm over the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March. (Reuters 222341 GMT Sep 03)

IRAQ

• The United States on Monday rejected a French proposal to hasten Iraqi sovereignty as President George W. Bush prepared to ask the United Nations to back his view of a gradual, U.S.-led Iraqi transition. "The French plan which would somehow try to transfer sovereignty to an unelected people just isn't workable," U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told reporters. Underscoring his determination not to hand over authority in Iraq until the country has stabilized further, Bush met with two members of Iraq's Governing Council, who said it was too early for full Iraqi self-government. "We are ready to be patient, we don't want to rush," Iraqi public works minister Nisreen Berwari said. Electricity Minister Ayham Sameraei told reporters as he and Berwari met Bush in the Oval office, "If the Iraqi people and the Americans help us for the next year and a half ... we will have (a) different Iraq." Bush is to address the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. He is expected to defend his decision to go to war in Iraq last March without U.N. backing, and seek new support for the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq without giving the global body the broader political role sought by some members. Bush and Chirac are to meet on the sidelines of the U.N. meeting on Tuesday. Rice said power should be handed over in Iraq "as soon as possible but ... in a way that is responsible." (Reuters 222347 GMT Sep 03)

OTHER NEWS

• Russia signed a deal on Monday to open its first new military base since the collapse of the Soviet Union, setting it in volatile Central Asia where Moscow ruled until 11 years ago. The air base will be in Kant in mountainous Kyrgyzstan, just 250 km (160 miles) from the Chinese border, and reverses Moscow's decade-long gradual withdrawal of troops from bases in former Soviet republics and other old allies. "It is the first and so far the only purely Russian military base that we have opened since the...existence of the Russian Federation," Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said after the signing ceremony at the Kremlin. Ivanov said the new base would serve as a springboard for any large-scale military operation that Russia might need to launch in the "stable but difficult" ex-Soviet Central Asia. Russian troops at Kant will almost rub shoulders with NATO pilots stationed at the nearby Manas airfield, which U.S.-led coalition forces use for operations in Afghanistan. “If necessary, we will be able to quickly step up our military presence there," Ivanov said. Its main purpose, however, will be to provide air support for Russian troops in the region. (Reuters 221442 Sep 03)