Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

18 February 2004

ESDP

• The American head of NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly warned the European Union on Tuesday that a go-it-alone defense policy risked undermining U.S. support for the trans-Atlantic alliance. U.S. Rep. Doug Bereuter cautioned European lawmakers against a proposal to write a mutual defense clause into the EU’s draft constitution similar to that in NATO’s founding treaty. “It goes to the fundamental role of NATO to provide for collective or mutual defense,” Bereuter said. “If this clause remains, it will undoubtedly result in declining political and financial support for NATO.” In his remarks to the parliament, he said there was a lack of clarity surrounding the December agreement, which will place an EU planning cell at NATO’s main military headquarters in Belgium. He also called on the EU to keep the United States, Canada and other non-EU NATO members informed of its military ambitions. The top European officer at NATO’s supreme headquarters offered reassurance, pointing out that cooperation between the alliance and the EU had worked well in last year’s European peacekeeping mission to Macedonia (sic). German Adm. Rainer Feist said such procedures should also guide a smooth handover in Bosnia where the EU is due to takeover from NATO at the end of this year. “The arrangements ... have been a resounding success,” Adm. Feist said, adding his support to the plan to have an full-time EU planning cell at NATO headquarters. (AP 171658 Feb 04)

IRAQ

• NATO’s top diplomat expressed confidence that the alliance will be ready to play a peacekeeping role in Iraq, if asked by a legitimate Iraqi government with UN backing. “Under the right conditions we could do it,” Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in a speech to the German Marshall Funds’ Trans-Atlantic Center, a Brussels think tank. “It will be a very tough job even if the political conditions are there,” he acknowledged. The reluctance of allied governments to commit troops to Afghanistan has cast doubts on the alliance’s ability to play a significant role in Iraq, where the situation is even more dangerous. To counter such doubts, Mr. De Hoop Scheffer pointed out that 18 of the 26 current or soon-to-be NATO nations already had troops in Iraq supporting the U.S.-led coalition there. But he recognized that allies need to invest more in defense to ensure their under-funded militaries are able to carry out such missions. (AP 172213 Feb 04)

BALKANS

• Serbia’s enlistment of the discredited Socialists of Slobodan Milosevic to prop up a minority government is an ominous step backwards, Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian prime minister said. If it should lead to serious delay in settling the crucial Balkan question of Kosovo’s status, it could provoke a unilateral move towards independence in the next two years, Bajram Rexhepi warned. Former Yugoslavia President Kostunica is expected to form a minority coalition for Serbia in the next few days. Rexhepi said he hoped internationally mediated talks with Belgrade would begin in a year and Kosovo’s status would be resolved “by the end of 2005 or beginning of 2006.” “Just to be clear, when we talk about the status of Kosovo I mean the independence of Kosovo,” he said. Anything less would mean “a unilateral referendum or declaration of independence.” “We wouldn’t like to get to the point of taking unilateral decisions, but if it is needed I’ll support it all the way.” (Reuters 171643 GMT Feb 04)
  
  
• EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, on Tuesday commended Croatia for its democratic reforms but said its cooperation with the UN war crimes court remains a key condition for future EU membership. Prime Minister Sanader responded that “Croatia would do everything in its power,” to fulfill membership criteria, including progress in other areas of concern, like the treatment of minorities, the return of refugees and judicial reforms. (AP 171746 Feb 04)

RUSSIA

• Mystery surrounded huge military exercises in Arctic Russia attended by President Putin on Tuesday with some navy sources saying a planned missile launch had failed while top brass denied any incident had occurred. Navy commander Vladimir Kuroyedov said there had been no plans to launch any missiles at all. The initial report, carried by two Russian news agencies, quoted an unnamed source in the Northern Fleet command as saying the launch of two ballistic missiles from a submarine in the Barents Sea had failed. The source said the incident, which may have been caused by a military satellite blocking the launch signal, did not lead to any serious consequences for the Novomoskovsk nuclear submarine. (Reuters 171717 GMT Feb 04)

AFRICA

• The U.S. has agreed to the deployment of more than 6,000 UN peacekeepers for the Ivory Coast and has asked Congress for approval, Ambassador John Negroponte said Tuesday. The United States will not contribute any troops to the force, but Congress needs to approve the request because the United States pays 27 percent of all UN peacekeeping costs. (AP 180216 Feb 04)