• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

Current Operations

• Iraq: Rotating U.S. Troops May Create Security Problems RFE/RL 27 Nov 2003 -- The U.S. Defense Department plans to bring about 100,000 fresh troops into Iraq during the first four months of next year and withdraw most of the 130,000 personnel there now, bringing troops levels down to about 105,000. The resulting force may be fresh, but will it also have sufficient experience and training to do the job?

Defense Policy / Programs

• UN / WEAPONS CONTROL VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- Representatives of 92 countries attending a U-N meeting on Conventional Weapons have reached an agreement that would require governments to clean up unexploded ordnance at the end of a war.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

• MIDEAST / TALKS VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- Israeli and Palestinian delegations have arrived in Britain for two-days of secret talks. The Israeli delegation is led by the son of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian team is headed by Yasser Arafat's national security advisor.
• ISRAEL / SETTLEMENTS VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- Israel is planning to give official recognition to some Jewish outposts that were originally established in the West Bank, without government approval. The decision has angered the Palestinian Authority, which says the move is a violation of the international road map to peace plan.
• ISRAEL / SHARON VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says Israel will have to make territorial concessions as part of any future peace deal with the Palestinians, but he gave no details of what those concessions might be.
• SRI LANKA / E-U VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- There are signs that Sri Lanka's feuding president and prime minister may soon find a way to resolve the political crisis that erupted in part because of disagreements over how to handle peace talks with Tamil rebels. A top European Union official has wrapped up a two-day visit to the country, where he met with a rebel leader.
• SRI LANKA/REBELS VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- In Sri Lanka, rebel leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran has threatened to revive demands for a separate Tamil homeland, if the government continues to deny self-governing rights to the Tamil people. But he says he remains committed to a peaceful resolution of the island's ethnic conflict.

• IVORY COAST/ TALKS VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- Ivory Coast's president, Laurent Gbagbo, says he will go to Mali on Friday as part of his regional effort to improve bilateral relationships and revive the stalled peace process in Ivory Coast. Mr. Gbagbo met with his Burkinabe counterpart Wednesday, and the two agreed on new initiatives to calm regional tensions.
• COTE D'IVOIRE: Fears of meningitis and typhoid in rebel-held north IRIN 27 Nov 2003 -- Relief agencies which now provide the backbone of healthcare in the rebel-held north of Cote d'Ivoire, have warned that the region could face major outbreaks of meningitis and typhoid as the dry season sets in and the Harmattan wind blows dust south from the Sahara desert.
• Liberia: UN condemns walkout at disarmament meeting UN News Centre 27 Nov 2003 -- The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) today strongly condemned a walkout staged by various factional leaders at the first meeting of the country's National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration.
• LIBERIA: Warring factions walk out of disarmament talks IRIN 27 Nov 2003 -- The three warring parties in Liberia walked out of talks on disarmament with the United Nations on Thursday after demanding dozens more government jobs in return for handing in their guns.
• S-A-F / CONGO VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- The leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have agreed at a meeting in South Africa to finish implementing their peace agreement within 12 months. The most important outstanding issue is the repatriation of Rwandan Hutus.
• CONGO-SOUTH AFRICA: Brazzaville, Pretoria establish joint cooperation commission IRIN 27 Nov 2003 -- In an effort to strengthen bilateral relations between their two countries, the foreign ministers of the Republic of Congo and South Africa signed on Tuesday an agreement providing for the establishment of a joint cooperation commission "in various fields of common interest".
• RWANDA/GENOCIDE TRIAL VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- Four more former Rwandan government ministers are on trial at a U-N war crimes tribunal in Tanzania, charged with masterminding the 1994 genocide.
• INDONESIA / ACEH VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- Authorities in Indonesia's restive northern province of Aceh (Ah-chay) say a senior rebel has surrendered to the army. But Indonesia's tactics in the battle to suppress the rebels have come in for more criticism from human rights organization.
• KASHMIR / FIGHTING VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- In Indian Kashmir, at least 11 people, including 10 suspected Islamic militants, have been killed in separate incidents of violence.
• Great Lakes: Summit in Pretoria to review Kigali-Kinshasa agreement IRIN 27 Nov 2003 -- South African President Thabo Mbeki is scheduled to host a Great Lakes summit on Thursday, to review progress made in a 30 July 2002 agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, the South Africa government reported.
• CONGO: National Assembly clears way for International Criminal Court IRIN 27 Nov 2003 -- The National Assembly of the Republic of Congo has given its approval for the country to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), the government reported on Wednesday.
• ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: Asmara denies troops moved to border IRIN 27 Nov 2003 -- The UN on Thursday said Eritrean troops had been moved to the western border region with Ethiopia, outside the demilitarised Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) which separates the two countries.
• SUDAN: Gov't "largely responsible" for abuses in Darfur, says watchdog IRIN 27 Nov 2003 -- There is "compelling evidence" that the government of Sudan is "largely responsible" for the abuses and humanitarian crisis in Darfur, western Sudan, said rights group Amnesty International (AI) in a statement on Thursday.
• COMOROS: Troops open fire on protest march IRIN 27 Nov 2003 -- Political tension simmering between leaders in Comoros came to a head on Wednesday when government troops reportedly opened fire on a group of demonstrators protesting the policies of the country's president, Azali Assoumani.

News Reports

• SHAPE News Morning Update SHAPE 27 Nov 2003 -- NATO to launch WMD defence battalion Hungary and Italy to guard Slovenian air space / NATO's outgoing chief says Ratko Mladic likely still in Serbia and urges him to surrender / NATO to press allies over Afghan operation gaps / U.S. doubts new UN resolution on Iraq this year¨ Missile strikes Italian embassy in Baghdad / Any U.S. plan to open bases in Poland should heed Russian concerns / Russia concerned about U.S. developing low-yield nuclear weapons
• SHAPE News Summary & Analysis SHAPE 27 Nov 2003 -- "No rushed proceedings for operations" / Daily: NATO scrambles to find materiel for Afghanistan / "Big Three" discuss EU military planning unit¨ UK to reject draft EU blueprint
• NIGERIA: Jersey returns $149 million of Abacha money IRIN 27 Nov 2003 -- Some US $149 million of missing state funds traced to the family of the late Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacha have been returned to the Nigerian government by Jersey, an offshore-banking centre in the British-ruled Channel Islands, Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.