Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

02 March 2004

NATO

• The seven eastern European nations set to join NATO next month will make their debut in its annual crisis management exercise, the security alliance said on Monday in Brussels. The March 4-10 exercise will be based on a hypothetical scenario involving threats from terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. The exercise will depict “a developing Article 5 situation,” NATO said. No troops will be deployed in the war game, which is designed to practice crisis management procedures such as civil-military cooperation. (Reuters 011730 GMT Mar 04)
  
  
• Finland could join NATO quickly and at little extra cost, a government-commissioned report showed on Monday, increasing pressure on the Nordic country to end its decades-old policy of military non-alignment. The report from a working group of defence ministry and general staff officials, while not taking a stance on whether to join NATO, said Finland met most of the membership criteria and could be militarily ready for the move in four years. The report will form a key plank of Finland’s 2004 defence review, which a ministry spokesman said could be ready by October. (Reuters 011609 GMT Mar 04)

BALKANS

• The remains of Macedonian (sic) President Trajkovski have been formally identified by DNA analysis and will be interred at a state funeral in Skopje on Friday, deputy prime minister Jovan Manasievski said. The European Union, the United States, the NATO allies and the Balkan neighbours of Macedonia (sic) are expected to send delegations to the state funeral. (Reuters 011745 GMT Mar 04)
  
  
• Macedonian (sic) Prime Minister Crvenkovksi sent a letter to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Monday asking the alliance to help find the cause of the air crash which killed the president. He noted that investigation of the plane crash was officially in the hands of the federal authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina where it occurred. But he told Mr. Hoop Scheffer that “finding the truth for the causes of this tragedy is in the interest of Macedonia (sic) and NATO.” (Reuters 011614 GMT Mar 04)
  
  
• Albania’s government pledged on Monday to intensify its fight against organized crime and use international funding to tighten border controls. Public Order Minister Igli Toska said the government will use all the means at its disposal to launch a coordinated attack on traffickers in humans, drugs and weapons. The EU has already pledged millions of euros to help improve border controls and fight organized crime. The government will also ask other international partners, including NATO and the United States, for financial aid and assistance with border management, a ministry spokesman said. (AP 011542 Mar 04)

TERRORISM

• This Central Asian nation hosting U.S. troops is a preferred sanctuary for an al-Qaida-linked terrorist group because of loose border controls and widespread corruption, convicted terrorists said in interrogation records examined by The Associated Press. “Kyrgyzstan has the most favourable conditions to carry out terrorist attacks and for former members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan to settle down,” Azizbek Karimov said in court documents. “The IMU leadership intends to use Kyrgyzstan for its purposes, to send its members to this country, to get fake passports, and to carry out certain terrorist attacks,” he said, warning further attacks would target U.S. interests in the region. (AP 020349 Mar 04)

MIDDLE EAST

• Democratic reforms must not be imposed on the Middle East but should come from within, the British government said on Monday. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Western countries should not try to dictate the pace of change in the region. He stressed that settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was of utmost importance, and warned that the violence there could be a “block on the process of change which the region needs.” (AP 012010 Mar 04)