Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

06 January 2004

NATO

• Dutchman Jaap de Hoop Scheffer began work as NATO secretary general on Monday insisting that the alliance must focus on expanding its peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan before considering a military role in Iraq. “About Iraq, we’ll see and await and, ... if possible, influence political developments there, but first let’s focus on Afghanistan,” the former Dutch foreign minister told reporters in Brussels. In a message for the allies, De Hoop Scheffer stressed the importance of backing up political decisions with “the need to meet requirements on the ground.” He warned that “NATO cannot afford to lose” in Afghanistan. In the Balkans, De Hoop Scheffer said the recent electoral success of hardline nationalists in Serbia was unlikely to affect NATO’s plans to hand over its peacekeeping mission in Bosnia to a EU command. (AP 051712 Jan 04)
  
  
• The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday congratulated Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on assuming his new post as NATO secretary general and urged him to continue the focus on improving Russia-NATO relations. The Foreign Ministry called on him to “continue the line of his predecessor, Lord Robertson, on increasing the political dialogue and practical cooperation among member countries of the Russia-NATO Council.” Moscow said that cooperation between NATO and Russia “meets the interests of strengthening stability and security in our common Euro-Atlantic space.” The statement made no mention of Russian fears about NATO’s continued expansion eastward. (AP 051816 Jan 04)

IRAQ

• British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said British troops were likely to stay in Iraq for years, possibly until 2007, to try to stabilise a country in the face of an insurgency against occupying forces. Speaking on BBC radio a day after Prime Minister Blair paid a surprise visit to British soldiers in Basra, Straw said it was “a fact” that substantial numbers of troops would remain in Iraq for a long time to come. (Reuters 051723 GMT Jan 04)
  
  
• President Aleksander Kwasniewski bid farewell on Monday to the first brigade deploying to Iraq to support the second term of a Polish-led international peacekeeping mission there, assuring the troops their services in the Middle East helped security at home. He also underlined Poland’s support for the disputed idea of having NATO play a larger role in post-war Iraq, adding that the issue will be discussed at a June alliance summit in Turkey. (AP 051500 Jan 04)

AFGHANISTAN

• The UN envoy to Afghanistan has stepped down as promised, UN officials said on Monday, a day after the country’s leaders approved a new constitution. Lakhdar Brahimi was expected to leave Afghanistan in a few days. Jean Arnault, his deputy for political affairs, will fill the post until a permanent replacement is found. (AP 051938 Jan 04)

OTHER NEWS

• U.S. Secretary of State Powell said President Bush’s foreign policy takes account of its allies and ascribes a key role to the UN. “U.S. strategy is widely accused of being unilateralist by design. It is not. It is often accused of being weighted in favour of military methods. It is not,” he wrote in an article for Tuesday’s The Times newspaper in Britain. “The president’s strategy is one of partnerships that strongly affirms the vital role of NATO and other U.S. alliances - including the UN” “We fight terrorism because we must, but we seek a better world because we can,” Powell wrote. (Reuters 060239 GMT Jan 04)
  
  
• Japan is likely to increase the size of its ground forces and put the emphasis on rapid response units as part of a drastic overhaul of defence policy to be announced at the end of this year, a newspaper said on Tuesday. Increasingly concerned about the threat of a missile attack and terrorism, the government is planning to shift resources away from guarding against a receding threat of invasion, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, without citing sources. The report said that “central rapid response groups” specialising in counterterrorism and peacekeeping may be established as soon as 2007. (Reuters 060339 GMT Jan 04)