Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

18 November 2003

IRAQ

• The UN came under increasing pressure from the United States and the Iraqi Governing Council to play an important role in Iraq’s transition to self-government, but Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Baghdad wasn’t secure enough for UN staff to return. “It’s an important step forward in the right direction,” German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said after meeting Colin Powell at the State Department. Secretary of State Powell left open the possibility of handing over the military side of the Iraq mission to NATO, saying “it would be premature to rule that in or rule it out at this point.” “It’s something to be discussed and thought about as we go forward,” he added. (AP 180028 Nov 03)
  
  
• British Defense Secretary Hoon said Monday that he saw little chance of NATO taking on a leading role in Iraq any time soon. At a meeting of EU defense ministers, Geoff Hoon said he could not rule out a wider NATO role in the longer term, but stressed it was not currently on the alliance’s agenda. Diplomats at NATO and European Union headquarters denied a British newspaper report saying U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell would “test the waters” of a possible NATO takeover of the Iraq operation when he meets his European counterparts in Brussels on Tuesday. (AP 171658 Nov 03)

ESDP

• The EU agreed on Monday to set up a defence agency to bolster and coordinate military capabilities across the bloc, but remained split over a proposed headquarters that has angered the United States. In an interview ahead of a meeting with her EU counterparts, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Paris had in mind a “cell of 30 or 40 people” rather than a fully fledged headquarters with hundreds of staff. The European Defence Agency will seek to find ways of coordinating and making the best use of EU nations’ defence budgets. (Reuters 171646 GMT Nov 03)

AFGHANISTAN

• The United Nations suspended operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan on Monday following the killing of a French UN worker and a series of terrorist attacks. “UN operations in the south, southeast and east were suspended pending further security assessments,” UN associate spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. (AP 172118 Nov 03)

OTHER NEWS

• Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov arrived on an official visit Monday in Helsinki as Finns debated whether to join NATO, a sensitive issue for the neutral country where foreign policy for decades was determined by its large eastern neighbour. Prime Minister Kasyanov discussed border issues, maritime security and Russian-EU relations with Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen. Finland’s NATO membership or foreign policy were not on the agenda of Kasyanov’s visit, the prime minister’s office said. (AP 171921 Nov 03)
  
  
• A notebook containing instructions in Turkish on how to carry out suicide bombings found in a deserted al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan in 2001 was the first, solid evidence of a link between Turkish militant Islamic groups and Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network. Devastating suicide blasts at Istanbul synagogues on Saturday have added urgency to the investigation. (AP 180225 Nov 03)