Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

1 April 2004

NATO

• Greek authorities met in Athens with NATO envoys on plans to safeguard the Olympics and the nation’s top police official declared security preparations are moving ahead “without any problems.” NATO officials met with top-ranking Greek defense officials to plan the alliance’s role in safeguarding the Aug. 13-29 games. According to the Defense Ministry, the two sides will work out details for the deployment of AWACS aircraft, warships from NATO’s standing Mediterranean fleet and NATO’s multinational chemical and biological battalion. “This cooperation will be non-stop until the end of the Olympic Games,” said a Defense Ministry statement. (AP 311605 Mar 04)

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

• NATO peacekeepers hunting war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic mounted a night-time swoop on his old stronghold in Pale on Thursday and two civilians were wounded. But the raid failed to catch him. “We did not find the individual we were looking for,” said a spokesman for SFOR. “We conducted a focused operation...to detain Radovan Karadzic. We searched an administrative accommodation building but we failed to locate him.” Two unidentified civilians were wounded during the raid. NATO sources at the time said they were acting on a tip that he had been forced to seek urgent medical attention in his old stronghold. (Reuters 010245 GMT Apr 04)

AFGHANISTAN

• Donor nations have pledged US$8.2 billion to help war-ravaged Afghanistan rebuild and confront threats from private militias and widespread drug cultivation over the next three years. Officials from more than 50 nations meeting in Berlin were to turn their attentions Thursday to how the aid would be used to ensure security in the country. Italy offered up to 300 soldiers to expand international military teams to protect aid workers outside the capital. (AP 010016 Apr 04)
  
  
• NATO came under fire on Wednesday for failing to move quickly on the expansion of its peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan and sidestepping the country’s two biggest security threats, drugs and warlords. The European Union’s External Affairs Commissioner, Chris Patten, called for both alliance and U.S-led coalition forces in the country to reverse the boom in poppy cultivation and stamp out a business that fuels criminal and guerrilla activities. “We must recognise the link between insecurity and opium poppy production,” Mr. Patten said. “If we are to see real short-term gains in the fight against drugs, then I believe ISAF and coalition troops will need to be actively involved.” “The moment you start destroying poppies of the warlords you create a major security problem for yourself,” said one Western European diplomat. “But there is no other way to go.” The aid agency Care International criticised NATO for turning a blind eye to warlords and the drug trade. “NATO is protecting its own forces and giving the appearance of engagement with security, but not actually addressing the real threats,” Care’s Paul O’Brien said. (Reuters 311950 GMT Mar 04).

KOSOVO

• The UN and the local government in Kosovo unveiled a detailed plan Wednesday aimed at bringing peace and lasting stability the province. The plan sets specific goals toward building democratic institutions, such as ensuring respect for the law, enforcing rights for minorities and creating a functioning economy. “The violence has underlined the need for clear policy,” said Harri Holkeri, the top UN official. “The plan states clearly what the policy is, who is responsible to undertake it and when this must happen,” he added. (AP 311617 Mar 04)

CAUCASUS

• The U.S. and Armenia strengthened military cooperation on Wednesday, a U.S. officer involved in planning for a major realignment of American forces abroad said servicemen from the former Soviet republic will soon be in Iraq. The Armenian parliament ratified an agreement setting rules for the presence of NATO forces on its soil under the Western alliance’s Partnership for Peace program. U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler, the European Command’s point man on planning for force reconfiguration, gave assurances that the United States does not plan to base forces in neighboring Azerbaijan. (AP 312010 Mar 04)