Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

04 February 2004

NATO

• NATO-led troops may not arrive in Iraq until 2005 despite the U.S. urging that the alliance take a robust role in post-war reconstruction, diplomats said on Tuesday in Brussels. “There may be a bigger role for NATO in Iraq but... discussions on this haven’t gone very far: the priority is very much Afghanistan,” said a senior diplomat. “One might get...a decision in principle (at NATO’s June summit) in Istanbul, to implement that maybe in 2005,” said the diplomat, who asked not to be named. “Afghanistan is where our credibility stands or falls, and that’s not the case with Iraq,” said one diplomat. “Iraq is item two in NATO’s in-tray, but it’s low-priority in the in-tray.” At the World Economic Forum in Davos, former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, head of the International Crisis Group think-tank, said the alliance’s commitment in Afghanistan was “a triumph of presentation over substance.” NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer rejected the criticism but acknowledged in Washington last week: “We are close to the point where, as an alliance, we are going to be unable to meet new commitments.” (Reuters 031544 GMT Feb 04)

BALKANS

• Bosnia will make radical cuts in its military forces this month to meet conditions set by NATO to establish closer ties, officials said on Tuesday in Sarajevo. Senior Serb, Croat and Muslim military officials agreed to reduce Bosnia’s armed forces from 19,800 to a total of 12,000 professional soldiers in three ethnically-based brigades which will be placed under a joint command. Also, Prime Minister Adnan Terzic told the Dnevni Avaz daily on Tuesday that Bosnia would not deserve to join the Partnership for Peace Programme if it had not named a new defence minister by mid-February. (Reuters 031643 GMT Feb 04)
  
  
• A Croatian general, Ante Gotovina, wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague has been living openly in France, the French newspaper Le Monde reported on Tuesday. French Interior Ministry officials were not immediately available to comment on the report. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia indicted him in 2001 for crimes against humanity for his role as commander of Croatian forces during its 1995 retaking of the breakaway Serb region of Krajina. Le Monde, citing a report from the French domestic intelligence agency DST last October, said Gotovina had been living “without hiding” in south-eastern France. The newspaper said French police had not officially been ordered to track him down. (Reuters 032252 GMT Feb 04)

IRAQ

• Secretary-General Kofi Annan claimed White House support on Tuesday for whatever agreement the UN is able to produce for elections of a transitional Iraqi government, which would take power by June 30. Annan said a UN team would go to Iraq soon to seek a consensus. The White House said it was open to some changes but the June 30 deadline was firm. (AP 032205 Feb 04)

OTHER NEWS

• A top Greek security official on Tuesday said Russia is offering valuable assistance in security for this summer’s Olympics, including its expertise in biological and chemical attacks. “The cooperation developing with Russia is productive, good and fruitful,” Greek Public Order Minister Giorgos Floridis said at the end of two days of talks in Moscow. (AP 031654 Feb 04)
  
  
• Australia will set up a US$770 million squadron of unmanned aircraft under a defence plan to protect its borders and meet the threat of terrorism, its defence minister said on Wednesday in Canberra. “This plan envisages investing in a squadron of pilot-less aircraft to provide not only maritime patrol but also land surveillance and intelligence,” Defence Minister Robert Hill said at the launch of Australia’s Defence Capability Plan 2004-2014. (Reuters 040118 GMT Feb 04)