Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

12 January 2004

GENERAL JONES-BULGARIA

• Gen. Jones’ official visit to Bulgaria Jan. 8-9 generated high interest in the country’s media. National Television Channel 1, Jan. 8, reported that Gen. Jones arrived in Sofia at the invitation of Chief of the General Staff Gen. Kolev. The broadcast said the purpose of the visit was to discuss the tasks of the Bulgarian armed forces in the process of reforms and integration into NATO. It reported that Gen. Jones would meet President Purvanov, Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the chairman of the National Assembly, Defense Minister Svinarov and Foreign Minister Pasi. The BTA news agency, Jan. 9, reported that SACEUR would deliver a lecture at the G.S. Rakovski Military Academy, which would award him the title of honorary doctor. Sofia’s BGNES news agency, Jan. 9, quoted Gen. Jones saying after a meeting with Foreign Minister Pasi Friday that the year 2004 would be a great year for NATO and Bulgaria and that he expected to celebrate the country’s full-fledged membership of the Alliance. Pasi awarded Gen. Jones the Foreign Ministry honor insignia—the “Gold Laurel Branch,” added the dispatch. Another BGNES dispatch reported that President Purvanov thanked Gen. Jones for the condolences expressed in connection with the Karbala tragedy, and the timely assistance in the evacuation and treatment of the Bulgarian servicemen. The dispatch noted that Gen. Jones expressed condolences on the death of the five Bulgarian servicemen after the terror attack in the Iraqi town of Karbala and stressed the importance of Bulgaria’s firm determination in conducting an anti-terror policy. It added that Purvanov reaffirmed Bulgaria’s intention to be a stable and consistent NATO member, which will implement not only its military commitments in various regions, but also its stabilizing role in the Balkans from a political and economic viewpoint. Reporting on SACEUR’s meeting with Defense Minister Svinarov, the news agency quoted Gen. Jones saying that in 2004 NATO would intensify its efforts to perfect and expand the PFP program. “Svinarov assured him that Bulgaria was maintaining active bilateral cooperation and would readily cooperate with the partner countries in the region as well as the countries which are candidates to join PFP. He observed that the program offers excellent possibilities for future membership in NATO,” the dispatch continued. The daily Trud, Jan. 9, published a question-and-answer interview with Gen. Jones in which he previewed his visit to Sofia. SACEUR was quoted saying: “I am going to Sofia to introduce myself officially…. I am very grateful for Bulgaria’s contribution to the various missions in which it is taking part, such as SFOR, KFOR, and of course, Iraq. Your participation there is exceptionally important and successful. I want to make myself clear. Bulgaria has made all of us feel very welcome as allies from NATO and as part of the U.S. military presence in Europe. I am going to Sofia to confirm once again our wonderful relations.” Asked whether he would discuss the deployment of U.S. military bases, Gen. Jones reportedly said: “We are going to discuss everything we want or need to discuss, but this would be an official NATO visit nonetheless.” He added, however, that U.S. officials would soon start a second round of talks on the base issue and said that in his capacity as U.S. commander in Europe, he had given his recommendations on the bases and the decision was now up to the politicians. “I do my job after the politicians have finished theirs. I implement policies and do not make them,” the newspaper quoted Gen. Jones saying.

NRF

• Budapest’s Kossuth Radio, Jan. 10, reported that the head of the Health Department of the Defense Ministry, Laszlo Sved, had announced that Hungary was offering a micro-biology laboratory for the NRF. According to the broadcast, he said the allied forces could make use of the four-member team as of July anywhere in the world, and added that the Hungarian laboratory was able to identify any biological weapon.

BALKANS

• NATO-led troops remained in the Bosnian Serb town of Pale for a third day Monday, manning checkpoints as part of an operation to nab war crime suspect Radovan Karadzic, reports AFP. “We have reduced our operation overnight, but we maintain our presence in Pale. There is still a possibility that a war crime suspect is being hidden in Pale,” the dispatch quotes an SFOR spokesman saying. In a related dispatch, Bijeljina’s SRNA, Jan. 11, quoted an SFOR spokesman saying at a news conference that the SFOR command was satisfied with the cooperation of the local police. “SFOR regarded this operation as very successful,” the spokesman reportedly said. “How can one call this big military circus a success when Karadzic is still at large?”, asks Paris’ Le Figaro, adding: “From a strictly military viewpoint, this operation, carried out tediously, with a reaction time to secret information superior to half a day, is border-line ridiculous. But politically, it was important to pass the message that for the first time, Serb police were fully associated to an operation against their former supreme commander.” AP claims that the anger of observers was fueled by television footage showing peacekeepers laughing, talking on cell phones and leisurely walking around while cameras followed them. “NATO rejected charges (that the operation was ‘a fun show for the public….’) An SFOR spokesman said the Alliance takes ‘all their operations seriously’ and that ‘this was not a show, but based on credible information given to the Bosnian Serb authorities and the peacekeeping force,’” the dispatch adds.

AFGHANISTAN

• At U.S. insistence, the operation in Afghanistan will be restructured, reports German weekly Der Spiegel. In the future, claims the report, “the NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, Gen. Jones, is to direct the fight against terrorism of the ‘Enduring Freedom’ operation in addition to the ISAF mission.” The article stresses, however, that the formal decision and announcement on the new forces arrangement will not take place before the NATO summit in Istanbul.
  
  
• According to Berlin’s DDP, Jan. 10, “representatives of western intelligence services” believe that following the successful conclusion of the Afghan loya jirga, the Taliban appears to want do everything possible to prevent the country’s elections planned for June. Extreme concern was also expressed by intelligence services over the possibility that NATO may take action against narcotics cultivation in Afghanistan, the dispatch said. It continued: “Any military action against the drug barons and warlords, who profit extensively from the cultivation of narcotics, could have unforeseeable consequences for the soldiers, the intelligence services urgently warned. Yet, it is not possible to turn a blind eye for long in Afghanistan. A record poppy harvest is expected in the Hindu Kush this year.”

EUCOM

• Maj. Gen. Kohler, director of EUCOM’s plans and policy division, said in an interview Friday EUCOM was slated for more involvement in Africa, not only as a result of transformation but also as a result of the global war on terrorism, reports the Stars and Stripes. The article notes that EUCOM’s activities range from assisting other countries in creating peacekeeping forces and AIDS prevention programs to on-going training of African troops by U.S. special forces to ferret out the Al Qaeda network. It quotes Gen. Kohler saying more changes will occur in upcoming years as terrorists are forced out of the Middle East and from countries such as Afghanistan and move into the wide-open, relatively desolate areas of Africa.