|
SHAPE News Morning Update
05
March 2004
ESDP
-
Italian and Irish defense minister reaffirm plans for
European Defense Agency by end of year
IRAQ
- Mr.
Rumsfeld says deadly Iraq attacks cannot be halted
AFGHANISTAN
- U.S.
provincial team boosts Afghan security
BALKANS
- U.S.
urges Bosnia Serbs to arrest Karadzic and Mladic¨
New Serb government sacks indicted general
RUSSIA
- Chechen
rebels acknowledge warlord death
|
ESDP
- Ireland
and Italy reaffirmed Thursday plans to create a European defense
agency by the end of the year and to take over the NATO-led
peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. The Italian defense
minister, Antonio Martino, met with his Irish counterpart,
Michael Smith in Rome. Mr. Martino also explained
a proposal to create a European police force that could respond
to crises around the globe, a statement said. (AP
041923 Mar 04)
IRAQ
- U.S.
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said on Thursday in Washington
that neither American troops nor fledgling Iraqi security
forces could completely protect Iraqis from devastating attacks
like those against Shi’ite Muslims this week. His
comment in an interview with the Reuters news agency came
as the head of Iraq’s Governing Council said the country’s
U.S.-led occupiers must do more to provide protection after
bombs killed at least 181 people in Baghdad and Kerbala. (Reuters
042246 GMT Mar 04)
AFGHANISTAN
- U.S.-led
forces stationed a civilian-military team in the Afghan city
of Ghazni, taking to 12 the number of missions designed to
bolster reconstruction and squash an Islamic insurgency.
“Wherever Provincial Reconstruction Teams go, security
follows,” said Lieutenant-General Barno, commander of
U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. (Reuters 041356 GMT Mar 04)
BALKANS
- The
U.S. ambassador for war crimes warned Bosnian Serb leaders
they would face more international pressure unless they did
more to arrest most wanted fugitives Radovan Karadzic and
Ratko Mladic. “This means... sustained economic
or political sanctions on the RS (Republika Srpska) and ongoing
action against political leaders who wilfully deny or ignore
their duties,” said Pierre-Richard Prosper, U.S. ambassador-at-large
for war crimes. (Reuters 041449 GMT Mar 04)
- In one
of its first steps, Serbia’s new conservative-led
government sacked indicted Serb police chief Sreten Lukic
in a clear-out of government officials. Lukic and
three former police or army generals were indicted by the
UN war crimes tribunal last year for atrocities in Kosovo
in 1999. It was not clear if Lukic’s sacking
would make it any more likely he would be extradited to The
Hague or face war crimes charges at home. (Reuters
042005 GMT Mar 04)
RUSSIA
- Chechnya’s
separatist rebels have confirmed the death of one of their
top warlords, Ruslan Gelayev, and a high Russian
commander claimed that the insurgents are increasingly on
the run. Russian authorities previously said that Gelayev
had been killed over the weekend in the republic of Dagestan.
The rebel-backing Kavkaz Center web site said his death was
confirmed by a member of the rebel general staff. Gen. Tikhomirov,
commander of Russia’s Interior Ministry forces, said
that almost all of the rebel leaders have been eliminated,
the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. In a possible sign of
continued concern about security in Chechnya, Gen.
Tikhomirov was quoted by news agencies as saying the Interior
Ministry has put off plans to turn over command of its Chechnya
operations to the Chechen Interior Ministry. (AP
042030 Mar 04)
|
