Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

15 January 2004

BALKANS

• According to AP, NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer urged Bosnia Thursday to enact military reforms and arrest war crimes suspects, suggesting that progress on those two fronts would boost the country’s efforts to join the Alliance. In remarks on his first visit to Sarajevo, Mr. de Hoop Scheffer reportedly noted that NATO-led peacekeepers had already detained “roughly one-third of the indictees awaiting trial at The Hague.” But, he added, “it remains the responsibility of local authorities to arrest those indicted for war crimes.” He also praised local politicians for recently adopting legislation that will unify Bosnia’s two armies. A related SRNA dispatch quotes Mr. de Hoop Scheffer saying that last week’s SFOR operation in the Bosnian Serb Republic clearly showed that the multinational forces in Bosnia continued to support efforts to bring war crimes suspects to justice. In another development, AFP reports that in Athens Thursday, Bosnia’s tripartite presidency told a joint news conference with Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis that it will cooperate with the ICTY in attempts to arrest former Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic.

IRAQ

• German media continue to speculate that NATO will probably take over military responsibility for parts of Iraq in the second half of this year and that an informal meeting of NATO defense ministers in February, on the eve of a security conference, might pave the way for this ahead of the June NATO summit. Financial Times Deutschland, Jan. 13, urged the German government, the other Europeans, and the Americans to seize the opportunity to overcome past differences over Iraq and breathe new life into NATO. The newspaper said: “Some (German) government foreign policy experts understand what is at stake. If a consensus is achieved, the renewed NATO might become a link between Europeans and the United States. However, … if the two sides do not manage to bridge the gap, the final breakup will be imminent. The decisive question will be whether the two sides manage to define the tasks of the renewed NATO in mutual agreement. Since September 2001, the Alliance as our grandfathers knew it has lost its importance. Sept. 11 showed that both Europeans and Americans have a vital interest in a multilaterally organized power that maintains order. Its tasks would be the worldwide anti-terror fight, the stabilization of disintegrating states like Afghanistan, and the security of nation building like in Iraq. Only NATO has the capacities to act worldwide as a power maintaining order together with local partners. There is no other alliance of military potent states with an integrated military leadership that can shoulder such mission.”

  A report in the daily Die Welt that Chancellor Schroeder has pledged a med-evac unit for Iraq after the transfer of sovereignty is generating interest.
  Die Welt claims it has obtained information indicating that Schroeder explicitly mentioned a deployment of the Bundeswehr’s med-evac airborne hospital to Iraq during a session of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. According to the article, the precondition for this commitment by Berlin is the transfer of governmental sovereignty to the Iraqis, which the United States plans to carry out by the middle of the year. If NATO were to then decide in favor of a deployment in Iraq, “we will not stand in NATO’s way,” Schroeder reportedly told the committee, which met behind closed doors. According to the newspaper, while he pledged greater support than in the past for NATO countries with commitments in Iraq, Schroeder ruled out the possibility of a fixed deployment of Bundeswehr contingents in the country. The newspaper adds: “Schroeder’s statement represents a clear message to the committee’s members that Berlin wants to send a signal to the United States of its willingness to play a constructive role in postwar Iraq. The Ministry of Defense is also currently considering options in the event of a NATO deployment in Iraq. The NATO defense ministers intend to discuss possible tasks for the Alliance in Iraq as early as the security conference in Munich in early February.”
  Suggesting that “political realism” is returning to Berlin, Financial Times Deutschland writes: “Yesterday the government confirmed that the Bundeswehr might participate in a mission in Iraq under strictly defined preconditions. The announcement, garnished with ifs and buts, shows that some nine months after the end of the war, political realism has emerged in Berlin. Germany cannot stand aside while the international community works for a stable Iraq.” Speculating that Berlin’s “current offer will not be enough,” the article adds: “At the (NATO) summit in June, NATO will, in all probability, decide in favor of an Iraq mission. France has indicated that it will participate in it with several thousand soldiers. If Germany, the biggest EU country, does not want to stand alone, it will have to offer more than one plane.”
  Deutsche Welle noted that any decision to send the Med Evac plane would require the approval of Parliament. The broadcast stressed, however, that parliamentarians from across the political spectrum showed their support for the idea after Chancellor Schroeder addressed the Foreign Affairs Committee on the proposal Wednesday.
  “Schroeder softens stance on deployment of NATO troops,” writes the Financial Times, adding: “Chancellor Schroeder told parliamentarians Wednesday his government could support the deployment of NATO troops in Iraq although Germany would continue to resist sending combat troops…. He had previously refused to give any commitment that he would support the handover of security duties from U.S. to NATO troops in Baghdad. The presence on the ground of small contingents from 18 existing and future members of the Atlantic Alliance is understood to have played a role in softening Germany’s stance.” Asked whether he would continue to oppose the deployment of German combat troops, the newspaper continues, Schroeder said he could envisage contributing an army medical evacuation aircraft currently stationed in Bonn, as a humanitarian gesture if the Iraqi authorities requested it. The article notes that it remains unclear whether Germany would send medical personnel or headquarters officers as part of a NATO contingent.
  

ISAF

• According AFP, the removal of heavy weapons from Kabul began Thursday with the collection of arms from local militia commanders. The dispatch reports hundreds of weapons were collected, including seven BM-1 missile launchers, hundreds of rounds of 76mm and 200mm artillery and three guided anti-tank missiles. It quotes Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak saying that in total 64 heavy weapons systems had been collected. Of the weapons collected, many were reportedly old and rusty and had be used in the fight against the Taliban. Those that could be repaired would now be fixed and handed over to the fledgling Afghan National army while the rest will be destroyed. The dispatch adds that the arms collected came from local militia forces thought to be largely loyal to Defense Minister Fahim. It stresses that Thursday’s action was organized by the Defense Ministry and ISAF and was separate from the UN’s disarmament, demobilization and reintegration campaign to collect weapons scattered throughout the country.