Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

25 November 2003

ESDP

• Britain and France attempted to display a united front after a summit on Monday but differences remained over Iraq’s transition to democracy and plans for a European Union defence force. Prime Minister Blair and President Chirac said they had agreed an EU defence capability must not undermine the NATO alliance but that the bloc must be able to act autonomously. The two leaders said the EU should be willing and able to deploy “credible battlegroup-sized forces” of around 1,500 troops in an autonomous operation within 15 days in response to a crisis. “Neither the Germans nor the French wish to take any kind of initiative which contradicts NATO which...is at the heart of our defence system,” President Chirac said after the summit in London. (Reuters 242142 GMT Nov 03)

BALKANS

• NATO will agree next week to slash its peacekeeping force in Bosnia by at least one-third and may take the first steps for a EU takeover of the mission at the end of 2004. The alliance has ruled out a sharp reduction in the 17,500-strong force in Kosovo before mid-2004, because of continued concern about stability pending a final status for the breakaway Serbian province. Defence ministers may ask military authorities next week to study a handover of the Bosnia operation with a view to taking a final decision at an alliance summit next June in Istanbul. (Reuters 241645 GMT Nov 03)

IRAQ

• Iraq’s interim authority has submitted a timetable for self-rule and asked the UN Security Council for a new resolution that would end the U.S.-led occupation in June. In a letter to the Security Council on Monday, Jalal Talabani, president of the Iraqi Governing Council, promised to establish the “principle of civilian control over the Iraqi armed and security forces.” The U.S.-appointed council said it would select a “provisional legislative body” no later than May 31, 2004, which would elect a provisional government by the end of June. Then “the Coalition Provisional Authority will be dissolved and the occupation...will end,” Talabani’s letter said. A new Iraqi constitution would be drafted by March 15, 2005, and then presented to Iraqis in a referendum, after which a general election for a new government would take place before December 31, 2005. The letter did not mention continued deployment of U.S. and other foreign troops. But it is assumed that a new provisional government in June will request that they stay. (Reuters 250357 GMT Nov 03)

OTHER NEWS

• President Bush signed a record $401.3 billion defence bill on Monday in Washington that includes a 4.15 percent raise for troops as the Iraq occupation puts increasing strain on soldiers and their families. This year’s bill clears the way for the Air Force to acquire 100 Boeing Co. refueling aircraft, expands veterans’ benefits and allows research on new types of nuclear weapons. It also includes $9.1 billion for ballistic missile defence and $12 billion for the purchase of Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force fighters as well as further development of a Joint Strike Fighter program. (Reuters 242322 GMT Nov 03)
  
  
• U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will discuss the U.S. “war on terror,” Iraq, the Middle East and political reform with officials in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia next month, U.S. officials said on Monday. His brief trip to North Africa Dec. 3 and 4 comes between visits to Maastricht in the Netherlands for a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and to Brussels for a six-monthly meeting of NATO foreign ministers. (Reuters 241940 GMT Nov 03)
  
  
• Russia may be on the brink of a deal to end Moldova’s 13-year conflict with separatist Slavs in its breakaway Dnestr region. The deal would turn Moldova into a demilitarised federal state with autonomy for the Dnestr region. Officials said that, barring last-minute hitches, the accord could be signed on Tuesday in Chisinau by President Putin and the leaders of Moldova and Dnestr. Russia still maintains up to 1,600 troops and 20,000 tonnes of weaponry in Dnestr. The deal will be put to a referendum in October 2004. Earlier this month, de Hoop Scheffer, who is also NATO’s incoming secretary general, urged both sides to find a solution. He said both NATO and the EU, due to take in Romania in 2004 and 2007 respectively, wanted a peaceful neighbour. (Reuters 241938 GMT Nov 03)