Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

29 January 2004

NATO

• NATO’s Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer is to meet U.S. President Bush on his debut trip this week to the alliance’s North American members. Jaap De Hoop Scheffer’s talks in Washington and Ottawa are expected to focus on plans for NATO to expand its peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan and a U.S. proposal that the alliance send troops to Iraq. (AP 281214 Jan 04)
  
  
• The U.S. Army, strained by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, will boost its forces by 30,000 through emergency authority it expects to last four years, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker told Congress on Wednesday. Testifying to the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, he rejected calls from lawmakers for a permanent increase in forces, saying it would undermine efforts to streamline and modernize the Army. Gen. Schoomaker also told lawmakers that the Army was drawing up plans for additional force rotations to keep large numbers of troops in Iraq into 2006. He said the rotation plans were intended to meet possible contingencies and that the White House would make all decisions on military involvement in Iraq. (Reuters 290337 GMT Jan 04)

RUSSIA

• Russia’s Defence Minister Ivanov on Wednesday hosted his Spanish counterpart Federico Trillo to discuss prospects for bilateral military cooperation. Sergei Ivanov said at the start of the meeting that Russia and Spain have common approaches to global efforts to combat international terrorism and stem proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, despite having differencies in approach to “some local conflicts,” the ITAR-Tass and Interfax-Military News Agency reported. Defense Minister Ivanov also said that Russia and Spain had cooperated in Afghanistan and called for strengthening bilateral military ties. Federico Trillo responded by voicing hope that his visit would help bolster relations between the militaries “for the benefit of our peoples and international security.” He also pointed at Russia’s cooperation with NATO. (AP 281150 Jan 04)

BALKANS

• NATO troops snatched a Bosnian Serb off the street on Wednesday on suspicion of helping war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic avoid capture for the past seven years. The arrest in the Bijeljina city centre of Zeljko Jankovic was based on information gained two weeks ago when troops carried out four days of searches in Karadzic’s wartime stronghold at Pale. Documents and media reports suggest he may have been the top bodyguard for Karadzic. The Sarajevo-based Dani magazine also described him as “the first man in Karadzic’s security.” (Reuters 281911 GMT Jan 04)
  
  
• Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor has opened an investigation into the killings of hundreds of Kosovo Albanians whose remains were found in a mass grave near Belgrade, the prosecutor’s office spokesman said. The investigation is designed to determine who was responsible for the death of the 707 ethnic Albanians and who tried to cover up the killings by transporting the bodies to central Serbia. It was not immediately clear if and when the investigation will result in official charges. (AP 281450 Jan 04)

AFGHANISTAN

• The U.S. military is planning for a spring offensive against Taliban and al Qaeda guerrillas in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. But they refused to comment on a report that the offensive might extend into bordering Pakistan. The Chicago Tribune reported that an offensive was being planned that would involve thousands of American troops and which would go after refuges in Pakistan used by the al Qaeda network. The Pentagon and the U.S. military’s Central Command refused to comment on any future military operations. The newspaper, in a report from Washington, cited military sources. But the Pakistani government denied to the Reuters news agency that it would allow such an operation to extend into its territory. (Reuters 281945 GMT Jan 04)