Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

26 February 2004

NATO

• Italy wants NATO to forge a broad, strategic partnership with Arab states around the Mediterranean to bolster the war on terrorism, Italian Foreign Minister Frattini said in an interview. He said Libya might one day sign up to the plan and added that the initiative, based on NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme with former Soviet bloc states, could eventually lead to full membership of the military powerhouse. “Our idea is that...the Partnership for Peace can be adapted to countries on the southern and eastern rim of the Mediterranean with whom we already have a partnership, but not a real strategic or intense partnership,” Franco Frattini said. He said in the interview late on Tuesday that he would unveil Italy’s proposals at a NATO council meeting on March 3. He did not give full details of his proposals, but other officials have indicated they want Mediterranean states to take part in NATO’s military training and exercise programmes. (Reuters 251342 GMT Feb 04)
  
  
• NATO is planning to provide air security for the Baltic states and Slovenia when they join the organisation, but it is treading carefully because of Russia’s sensitivity about alliance aircraft on its borders. A NATO official said that military planners were working urgently on a plan to ensure the new eastern wing of the alliance was not left undefended because of these four countries’ lack of fighter jets. NATO sources said Germany or another western European ally could deploy a limited number of aircraft to the Baltic states. (Reuters 251827 GMT Feb 04)

BALKANS

• Serbia’s security agency said its officers have uncovered a weapons cache allegedly belonging to former ethnic Albanian rebels in the tense southern region near Kosovo. In a statement faxed to media, the Serbian Security-Information Agency said the discovery was made in the predominantly ethnic Albanian village of Mali Trnovac. The arms belonged to the disbanded rebels who three years ago fought Serbian police in efforts to annex the region to neighboring Kosovo, the statement said. It said the weapons were meant for “future terrorist activities” of the newly emerged Albanian National Army. Representatives from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe as well as a local investigative judge and a prosecutor witnessed the seizure of the arms. (AP 251916 Feb 04)

AFGHANISTAN

• The Czech parliament on Wednesday approved sending more than 100 soldiers to Afghanistan. The soldiers - mainly reconnaissance troops - will deploy in the coming weeks and join the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom. (Reuters 251558 GMT Feb 04)

OTHER NEWS

• U.S. President Bush urged Moscow to abandon two Soviet-era military bases in Georgia as he met on Wednesday with the newly elected leader of the Caucasian state. He said Russia should honour a promise to remove the bases, which it made during the 1999 Istanbul summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Analysts think Russia is dragging its feet on the issue to maintain influence over its southern neighbour and retain a strategic line of bases along NATO-member Turkey’s border. “I believe Russia should become our reliable partner and we should improve our relations,” President Saakashvili told reporters at the White House. (Reuters 252158 GMT Feb 04)
  
  
• Europe’s planned Galileo satellite navigation system got a boost on Wednesday when EU and U.S. officials agreed on radio frequencies so it can work alongside the U.S. GPS network. Galileo is due to come on line in 2008. (Reuters 251851 GMT Feb 04)
  
  
• Drugs from Afghanistan and a fervent Islamic fundamentalism that has attracted more than 3,000 adherents are growing menaces to Kyrgyzstan, the foreign minister said Wednesday. Appealing for help to combat drug traffic, Askar Aitmatov said a strong international effort is needed to help his country’s security services stem the flow. The U.S. State Department said the Bush administration is working very closely with the Kyrgyz government against terrorism, narcotics trafficking and human trafficking. (AP 252141 Feb 04)
  
  
• Three Muslim leaders suspected of plotting to bomb Milan’s metro and Gothic cathedral have been detained in Italy, officials said on Wednesday. Investigators believe the North African men planned to blow up the subway stop below the cathedral in December 2002 and also to bomb the cathedral in the nearby town of Cremona. According to some documents, the only reason the attacks were called off was because they were jeopardised by information leaks. According to the arrest order, the authorities said that the alleged Islamic militants talked about “a new bomb that would have a devastating effect on people.” (Reuters 251618 GMT Feb 04)