Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

27 October 2003

NATO

• Lord Robertson was quoted on Sunday as saying that former enemy Russia could one day join NATO to fight the new common enemy of “international terrorism.” George Robertson told Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper he was convinced that the expansion of NATO would continue when he leaves his post at the end of the year. “I can’t rule out that in some years Russia will join NATO. We both face a common enemy: international terrorism,” he said. In the interview, Lord Robertson reiterated his warnings about proposals for the European Union to develop its own defence command and control structures. Europe should concentrate on improving its defence capabilities, he said. “Competition (between the EU and NATO) would be damaging for both organisations. It would be a waste of money, time and energy. The EU can draw on NATO resources for its own missions. In the Balkans, the Alliance and the EU have shown they can work together. They will fail if they go separate ways,” he added. (Reuters 261116 GMT Oct 03)

ESDP

• German Defence Minister Struck expressed sympathy on Thursday for a British proposal for a European Union defence planning unit within NATO, moving away from a French-led plan for an independent EU headquarters. “It makes no sense to create duplicate structures,” Peter Struck told a conference of Germany’s Social Democratic party hosted by the British embassy in Berlin. “What we need are planning cells...That could be planning cells at SHAPE,” he said. “There should not be a separate European headquarters.” (Reuters 241613 GMT Oct 03)

BALKANS

• Serbia’s justice minister on Sunday accused the chief UN war crimes prosecutor of being partial and claimed she used “double standards” in her investigation of the Balkan wars. Vladan Batic told the Belgrade-based BK television he considered Carla Del Ponte, biased against Serbs. “The work of the (UN) tribunal has been so political. Their double standards create an enormous pressure on us,” Batic said. He also criticized the court for not issuing war crimes charges against top leaders of the former Kosovo Albanian rebel force. Batic accused two former rebel commanders, Agim Ceku and Ramush Haradinaj, of being responsible for atrocities against Serbs, and urged the court to charge them. A spokeswoman for the prosecution at the tribunal, dismissed Batic’s comments as “an empty accusation for the public opinion, to try to avoid the obligation” to arrest four top Serbian police and army commanders recently indicted for atrocities committed against Kosovo Albanians during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war. (AP 261724 Oct 03)