Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

25 March 2004

U.S. TROOP BASING

• The Pentagon may cut half of the 71,000 troops based in Germany under a planned post-Cold War realignment of U.S. military forces abroad, The Washington Post reported on Thursday citing U.S. officials. Under the draft plan, smaller bases would be set up in Romania and possibly Bulgaria and training facilities would be set up in Poland, the newspaper reported. Bases in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan that were established in 2001 to support the war in Afghanistan would be preserved as training sites and as quick staging areas for use in emergencies, the report added. The paper said the Pentagon plan, which is nearing approval, also calls for new training and staging areas in Australia and expansion of military ties with Singapore and Thailand. (Reuters 250536 GMT Mar 04)

KOSOVO

• NATO peacekeepers were surprised by the rapid spread of ethnic violence in Kosovo, which seemed well coordinated, alliance officials said on Wednesday in Brussels. “It is not yet clear how this violence was instigated but there seems to be a strong element of coordination in the way it unfolded,” a NATO official told reporters. The Belgrade daily Nedeljni Telegraf, which is close to Serbian security and intelligence services, said former guerrillas now in the Albanian Movement for Independent Kosovo drew up an expulsion plan three months ago called “Spring River” and it included re-arming guerrillas and seizing NATO armour and heavy weapons. It said a copy of the plan was put on UN Kosovo governor Holkeri’s desk by his intelligence chief in January. But a NATO military official, who asked not to be named, said he was “unaware of any study or assessment that pointed to something so wide-scale occurring.” The alliance’s secretary-general, Mr. de Hoop Scheffer, denied on Wednesday that NATO, heavily focused on its Afghanistan operation and quietly debating a role in post-war Iraq, had been “caught napping” in its own backyard. “There was a lot of orchestration behind the violence erupting in many places at the same time,” he said. “KFOR did everything it could...but it was not possible at the very beginning for KFOR to be in all places at the same time.” (Reuters 241958 GMT Mar 04)
  
  
• The European Union’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana told Kosovo Albanians on Wednesday that Western intelligence had a clear picture of who led last week’s orgy of arson, rioting and expulsion of Serbs. “When we start arresting those responsible, do not jump up clamouring for their release,” he was quoted as saying by sources close to his talks with Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi, President Ibrahim Rugova and other ethnic Albanian leaders. (Reuters 241951 GMT Mar 04)

AFGHANISTAN

• NATO agreed on Wednesday to a request from Afghan President Karzai for security back-up during June’s elections, but made it clear that there would no big show of force from the militarily overstretched alliance. “NATO nations agreed to provide assistance - within NATO’s means and capabilities - for the upcoming Afghan elections,” an alliance official said in Brussels. An official said NATO-commanded reconstruction teams could be beefed up for the elections, Kabul-based troops could be deployed in provinces and a quick-reaction force could be activated if there was an eruption of violence. (Reuters 241825 GMT Mar 04)

IRAQ

• Iraq’s U.S. administrator Paul Bremer said that he would establish a new defence ministry this week to replace the one he dissolved in May after the U.S.-led invasion. “I will formally create the new Iraqi ministry of defence and a cabinet-level national security committee later this week,” he said in a speech on live television. He said these structures would enable Iraq to protect its citizens from foreign aggression. “Iraq’s security is the first concern of Iraqi citizens - we hear it every day – and the top priority of the coalition,” he declared. (Reuters 241344 GMT Mar 04)

TERRORISM

• The United States introduced a UN resolution on Wednesday that would oblige nations to stop the flow of weapons of mass destruction to terrorists and others smuggling illicit arms. The Security Council draft, prompted by U.S. President Bush’s speech at the UN General Assembly in September, is aimed at closing loopholes in non-proliferation treaties that target only the actions of nations and not “non-state actors.” U.S. officials said the resolution that evokes Chapter 7 under the UN Charter, which makes it mandatory, had a “name and shame” component that could put pressure on nations. (Reuters 250053 GMT Mar 04)