Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

01 December 2003

NATO

• NATO defence ministers open talks on Monday on expanding the alliance’s peacekeeping force in Afghanistan while preparing to wind down its mission in Bosnia. Lord Robertson has warned that NATO’s credibility will be undermined if the 19 allies don’t deploy sufficient troops and equipment for a wider Afghan mission. On the eve of the two-day NATO meeting, U.S. Defence Secretary Rumsfeld said Washington would eventually like NATO to take over the whole military mission in Afghanistan. (AP 010031 Dec 03)

ESDP

• U.S. Defence Secretary Rumsfeld on Sunday expressed concern about an emerging plan to enhance the EU’s defence capabilities saying he saw no reason for an effort that competes with NATO. Arriving in Brussels, he told reporters travelling with him: “I certainly think that NATO has a fabulous record over most of my adult lifetime of contributing to defence and deterrence and a more peaceful world.” “Therefore I would say anything that puts at risk that institution...you’d have to have a very good reason for wanting to do it. And I think there’s no reason for something else to be competitive with NATO.” He was commenting on a British-French-German idea to enhance the EU’s defence capabilities and discussed by EU foreign ministers meeting in Naples, Italy, over the weekend. Rumsfeld said countries benefiting from NATO’s existence do not “want something that would inject an instability into it.” (Reuters 301841 GMT Nov 03)
  
  
• European foreign ministers achieved a breakthrough on Saturday on defence arrangements for an enlarged EU, but the U.S. may object to one feature which a NATO diplomat branded a “Trojan Horse.” French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said a joint proposal by Europe’s three big powers - France, Britain and Germany - won broad acceptance, enabling EU president Italy to circulate new draft constitutional articles on defence. “It’s an important breakthrough which augurs well for our ambition for the (December 12-13) Brussels European summit,” due to finalise the EU’s first constitution, he said. The Italian draft, based on the big three’s ideas, proposed a mutual defence clause, recognising NATO as the foundation of collective defence for its members which include most EU states. The draft set criteria for states to join closer EU defence cooperation, including the ability to deploy troops within five to 30 days for military missions, notably to support the United Nations, and sustain them in the field from one to four months. Officials said a small cell of planning officers attached to the existing EU military staff in Brussels could be called upon to help plan operations where NATO chose not to be involved and national European headquarters needed support. Diplomats said EU candidate Turkey, a major NATO ally, was seeking assurances that it could participate in the new defence cooperation before it joined the bloc. (Reuters 291635 GMT Nov 03)

OTHER NEWS

• Combating terrorism and guiding Georgia’s fresh elections are key topics at a 55-nation conference in Maastricht bringing together the United States, Russia and a wide swath of Europe. Envoys expected to address the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe during the two-day meeting starting Monday include U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Dutch foreign minister currently presiding over the OSCE, has said he hopes to raise 5 million euro at the meeting to finance the Jan. 4 election in Georgia. Powell and Ivanov, meanwhile, hope to see progress in the OSCE-mediated conflict between the former Soviet republic of Moldova and the breakaway Trans-Dniester region. On terrorism, delegates are due to endorse a strategic plan to confront “threats to security and stability in the 21st century.” (AP 010016 Dec 03)
  
  
• NATO has raised security in Kosovo in response to a “specific threat” of attack against international organisations in the United Nations protectorate, alliance peacekeepers said on Friday. In a joint statement with UNMIK referring to recent suicide bomb attacks in Turkey, they said extra measures would remain in force until “the threat is assessed to have reduced.” “We now know that a specific threat has been made towards international organisations within Kosovo,” a KFOR spokesman told a news conference. He would not disclose which organisation had been threatened. Diplomatic sources said it was UNMIK. (Reuters 281648 GMT Nov 03)