Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

04 December 2003

NATO

• As part of its efforts to adapt to new threats, NATO on Wednesday formally launched a multinational battalion designed to respond to the use of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons anywhere in the world. The unit, the first of its kind, was launched in a ceremony in the Czech town of Liberec. The Czech Republic was assigned to build up the unit and to lead it for the first six months. The soldiers will be trained to be deployed in military conflicts and also should be ready to help deal with natural disasters and industrial accidents, Czech Defence Minister Kostelka said. The new battalion “will make the alliance even more capable of facing the new threats of the world’s ever-changing security environment,” said Vice Adm. Roberto Cesaretti, the deputy chief of staff at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. Vice Adm. Cesaretti later told a news conference that NATO decided to form the unit because it recognized a lack of its capabilities to respond to the use of weapons of mass destruction, especially biological ones. The commander of the unit said the battalion would be ready to be deployed anywhere in the world within five to 20 days starting July 1, 2004. Germany will take over the unit’s rotating leadership on Jan 1, 2005. (AP 031513 Dec 03)
  
  
• A major shift of American troops and military bases will be the topic next week as officials from the Pentagon and State Department discuss plans with counterparts in Europe. Undersecretary of Defence Feith said on Wednesday that he and Undersecretary of State Grossman will visit 13 countries to outline American ideas for repositioning military forces to better respond to terrorism and other future threats. The officials will visit other regions of the world later, Douglas Feith said, without giving specifics during a speech sponsored by an independent think tank. He said Bush administration officials have not made final decisions on how to shift forces worldwide. Neither Feith nor his aides would say where he and Marc Grossman were going, other than saying the 13 nations include both NATO members and countries which are not members of the alliance. The two officials plan to split up and visit the various countries individually. (AP 032118 Dec 03)
  
  
• Belgian Prime Minister Verhofstadt proposed an overhaul of the military, cutting troop numbers but modernizing equipment to make a greater contribution to European defence and peacekeeping. Guy Verhofstadt told parliament the armed forces should be cut from 42,000 to 35,000 soldiers by 2015. He told VRT television the reforms would create “more flexible” and “easily deployable” forces better able to fit in with NATO and European Union operations. Under the plan, which needs parliament’s approval, money saved from cuts to outdated parts of the military would be reinvested in modernization. That would include cutting the navy from 11 to nine ships and reducing the air force’s fleet of F-16 fighters by a third to 60 over twelve years. New investment would go on equipping marines and medical units to fit into NATO’s new rapid response force and working with neighbouring nations to acquire transport planes. The army will replace its Cold War-era Leopard tanks with faster, lightly armoured vehicles. (AP 031714 Dec 03)

IRAQ

• U.S. Defence Secretary Rumsfeld said there was no question of trading U.S. backing for enhanced European defence capabilities for a pledge by France or Germany to contribute peacekeeping troops for Iraq. In an interview with the French daily Le Figaro to be published on Thursday, he denied he had softened his stance on the European Union’s plans for defence cooperation in order to mollify critics of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. “There is no question of exchanging the promise of reinforcements in Iraq against something that risks having a negative impact on the future of NATO,” he said, according to the French text of an advance copy provided by the newspaper. The administration of President Bush was ready to send in extra troops if necessary. “The president is absolutely ready to send reinforcements if they prove to be necessary,” Le Figaro quoted him as saying. “However, at this point, not a single one of our military chiefs considers it necessary to increase our numbers.” (Reuters 032004 GMT Dec 03)

AFGHANISTAN

• NATO’s future success depends on its peacekeeping performance in Afghanistan where chaos could return without better international military support, Canada’s Defence Minister John McCallum said on Wednesday in a speech to London’s Royal Institute of International Affairs. He railed against fellow NATO members who have not come forward to fill military gaps in Afghanistan. “NATO’s success tomorrow will largely be determined by its performance in Afghanistan today,” he added. He said it was not clear who would take over from Canada after it completes a one-year commitment next August. (Reuters 031847 GMT Dec 03)

BALKANS

• A high-ranking U.S. official called on Balkan authorities to arrest top war crimes suspects who continue to evade justice after a decade of conflicts. The U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, Pierre-Richard Prosper, met late Wednesday with top Bosnian Serb leaders in the northern town of Banja Luka. “This is an issue the United States and the international community believe must be resolved,” Prosper warned. He also called on Serbia-Montenegro and Croatia to hand over top suspects believed to be hiding in their territory. “Doing nothing is not an option,” Prosper said, calling action essential for former Yugoslav republics to integrate into Europe. Bosnian Serb President Dragan Cavic said after meeting Prosper that “arresting war crimes suspects is our top priority.” (AP 031906 Dec 03)

CAUCASUS

• NATO is considering opening a permanent representation in the Caucasus in a sign of growing cooperation with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, alliance Secretary General Lord Robertson said. At a meeting with Armenian President Kocharian, he said NATO had sent an exploratory mission to the region and was mulling the best way to extend its links there. Lord Robertson acknowledged the importance of cooperation with the region in fighting threats such as terrorism, drugs trafficking and other cross-border crimes. He said NATO was ready to help Armenia in its aim to move closer to western institutions, but gave no timetable for the country’s eventual integration into NATO or the European Union. (AP 031548 Dec 03)
  
  
• The United States is committed to a bigger role in helping Azerbaijan protect itself against terrorists and illicit trafficking in weapons and drugs, Defence Secretary Rumsfeld said Wednesday in Baku. “The goal would be to work with the Azerbaijani navy and maritime forces to better enable them to deal with” such threats, he said at a joint news conference with Col. Gen. Abiyev, the nation’s defence minister. Donald Rumsfeld said Air Force Lt. Gen. Charles Wald, the deputy commander of U.S. European Command, was in Baku recently to discuss ways of improving and broadening cooperation on these matters. (AP 032000 Dec 03)