Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

09 March 2004

WAR ON TERRORISM

• Maritime security is a weak link in the U.S.-led war on terror and extremists will one day exploit the shortcomings unless action is taken, the U.S Commander of NATO forces in southern Europe said. Admiral Johnson, who is also commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe, said in an interview that friendly nations needed to create an intelligence network to monitor the world’s main shipping lanes. Some 95 percent of the world’s commercial cargo moves by ship, with some 11 million containers travelling the seas every day, Adm. Johnson said. “There’s only a tiny, tiny portion of one percent of those containers that we know about before they reach our ports,” he said. “The volumes are such that over time any would-be terrorist is going to work this out.” (Reuters 081906 GMT Mar 04)

BALKANS

• NATO peacekeepers appear to be getting closer to fugitive former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic by eliminating his support structure, the U.S. Commander of NATO forces in southern Europe said on Monday. Admiral Gregory Johnson told the Reuters news agency in an interview that capturing Karadzic and his military chief Ratko Mladic was a priority for the NATO-led Stabilisation Force in Bosnia, which is under his control. “They are like terrorists. They cannot survive without a support infrastructure. Maybe I’m being naive, but I hope that slowly but surely we are peeling back that support infrastructure,” Adm. Johnson said. However, he indicated that supporters in Belgrade were shielding the two men from the United Nations’ war crimes tribunal in The Hague. (Reuters 082100 GMT Mar 04)
  
  
• Serbia’s new prime minister called for the “decentralization” of Kosovo and autonomy for its beleaguered Serb minority after meeting Monday with the province’s UN administrator. Kostunica’s office issued a statement after the talks saying the premier called for a decentralized Kosovo and autonomy for Serbs living there. It did not elaborate. Harri Holkeri told the Beta news agency after the meeting that he was hopeful the two leaders would “establish a working relationship.” (AP 081803 Mar 04)
  
  
• The UN administrator for Kosovo, Harri Holkeri, said there could be no discussion of Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica’s idea of partitioning the province. Mr. Holkeri said he had asked for clarification of Kostunica’s proposal for the “division or cantonisation” of Kosovo to protect the Serb minority there. “I answered that partition of Kosovo is not an issue we can discuss on the basis of Security Council Resolution 1244. This kind of idea or proposals are not on the table,” he told reporters. He stressed that it was his duty to work on standards, and status is ultimately to be decided by the Security Council. (Reuters 081726 GMT Mar 04)
  
  
• Albania and the United States will hold joint military exercises in an effort to strengthen their armies’ cooperation, the Albanian Defense Ministry and the U.S. Embassy in Tirana said Monday in Tirana. The exercises codenamed Adriatic Phiblex 04-5 will run March 8-12, said an embassy press statement. (AP 080926 Mar 04)

EU

• Senior Chinese and EU officials held talks Monday in Brussels as the EU mulls lifting a 15-year arms embargo to allow European companies to seek contracts from Beijing’s big-spending military. Pushed by France and Germany, EU leaders are widely expected to lift the arms embargo at a March 25-26 summit in Brussels. (AP 081855 Mar 04)

IRAN

• The UN atomic agency’s chief delivered a mixed verdict on Iran’s commitment to prove it does not want to make nuclear weapons, amid U.S.-European differences on whether Tehran is living up to its pledge to fully open its nuclear dossier to world perusal. Mohamed ElBaradei, described both Iran and Libya as being in violation of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. While praising Tehran for some cooperation, he said he was “seriously concerned” about Iran’s refusal to declare plans and parts for an advanced uranium enrichment system, calling it a “setback to Iran’s stated policy of transparency.” (AP 090542 Mar 04)