Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

20 February 2004

NATO

• Officials said security preparations for this summer’s Olympic Games have become so costly and complex that Greece will probably submit a formal request to NATO for help in guarding against terrorist threats, reports the International Herald Tribune. The article quotes a “top Greek official” saying Greece is seeking assistance in areas such as intelligence gathering and dealing with the unthinkable—a major chemical or biological attack on a stadium, for instance. The official reportedly said there had “already been lots of informal meetings” between the government and NATO. According to the newspaper, officials believe that a formal request could come later Friday, when NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer visits Athens. The article adds, however, that given sensitivities in Greece over the presence of foreign military forces, the request might be delayed until after Greece’s March 7 general elections. The newspaper observes that helping safeguard the Olympic Games would be an unprecedented role for NATO. Noting that according to a spokesman for the Athens city government, preparations for the Games already resemble “a semi-military operation,” the article adds: “During the Games, AWACS … will fly overhead, monitoring suspicious ‘chatter’ and gathering other intelligence. At sea, the U.S. 6th Fleet ‘will be on standby’ and ready to assist in case of a major problem, according to Defense Minister Papandoniou. And on the ground, a total of 90,000 Greek troops and police officers will patrol the capital and monitor the country’s borders. Officials say use of the AWACS could be formalized in the deal with NATO. Greece … is also seeking use of specialized NATO equipment and personnel such as teams that deal with nuclear, chemical and biological threats.” The article adds that even if the government elected in March chooses not to formally seek NATO assistance, which officials say is a possibility, Greece will call on individual NATO allies for help.
  
  
• Sofia’s Khorizont Radio claimed it had learned that Bulgaria has been offered two brigadier general positions in ACO. “A Bulgarian general will be appointed chief of staff of the center for training NATO peacekeeping missions in Poland which is being formed. A brigadier general will work at the NATO Air Force command in Izmit, Turkey. Bulgaria and Greek generals will rotate in both posts. Bulgaria has been allowed to choose which of the two positions it would like to take first,” said the broadcast. It continued: “Sources from the General Staff revealed that Bulgaria is yet to send its junior representatives to the NATO staffs. The number of those who want to work in the Alliance’s structure outnumber by tens of times those who are volunteering for commander positions in the units taking part in peacekeeping missions abroad.”

BALKANS

• According to AFP, NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer reiterated in Athens Friday that Serbia’s cooperation in the arrest of Bosnian Serb war crime suspects Karadzic and Mladic was a key condition for membership in the Alliance’s PFP program. “Partnership for Peace has many conditions .. but Mladic and Karadzic are certainly the most important obstacle,” Mr. de Hoop Scheffer reportedly said in an interview with the Greek daily Kathimerini, adding: “The sooner they are brought to The Hague, the better for the country’s ambitions to find itself in ‘Partnership for Peace.’”

PFP

• “Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry confirmed Friday that police in Hungary had arrested one of its officers on suspicion of brutally murdering an Armenian officer during a NATO training course both servicemen were attending,” reports AFP. The dispatch adds that police are still investigating the motive for the killing, but officials in Armenia and Azerbaijan said it may have been linked to a bitter ethnic conflict between the two countries which has cost thousands of lives. According to the dispatch, the two officers had been studying on an English-language course in Budapest as part of the PFP program, of which both Armenia and Azerbaijan are members. Yerevan’s National Television of Armenia, carried the Armenian representative in the EU saying in Brussels that the murder was a serious blow to the PFP program.