Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

13 April 2004

KOSOVO

• UN police and NATO-led peacekeepers arrested an ethnic Albanian war veteran Saturday on charges of organizing some of the ethnic clashes that rocked the province last month. Authorities arrested Avdyl Mushkolaj, who heads a local branch of war veterans organization in western Kosovo, for “leading and inciting” riots in Decane. (AP 101604 Apr 04)
  
  
• The Serbian government adopted what it said was a draft political plan aimed at providing protection for the Serb minority in the UN-run province of Kosovo. Though no details of the interim Serb government proposal were released, a private television station reported that the plan calls for autonomy for the Serb enclaves in the province. In a statement released after its session, the government said that its draft plan will be further discussed by Serbia’s top officials and politicians. The draft plan envisages five Serb autonomous regions in Kosovo, private BK Television reported. The station quoted deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus as saying that “the autonomy is the best solution for the protection of the Serbs.” However, he also acknowledged that “the government is aware it will be very hard to persuade the international community” to accept the Serb proposal, BK Television added. (AP 081811 Apr 04)
  
  
• UN police and NATO peacekeepers arrested four Kosovo Albanians in connection with the murder last month of a UN policeman and his local partner, officials said. They were arrested on Wednesday in the town of Kosovo Polje, following a police chase in which one of the suspects was shot and injured. (Reuters 081316 GMT Apr 04)

MIDDLE EAST

• Egyptian President Mubarak on Monday appealed to U.S. President Bush for support in promoting reform in Egypt and other Arab countries, saying he hopes the initiative that President Bush has promised can help “further widen the scope of democracy” in the region. Washington expects to present its Middle East initiative at the Group of Eight summit of leading industrialized nations in June and to European Union and NATO summits that month. The European Union has agreed to work closely with Washington on Middle East reform. (AP 122145 Apr 04)

IRAQ

• U.S. commanders in Baghdad said they will reach out to former senior members of Saddam Hussein’s disbanded army to try to stiffen Iraqi security forces who have proved disappointing against a growing insurgency. The commanders acknowledged failures in American attempts to train and mentor Iraqi police and soldiers. Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, said a number of Iraqi police and civil defense corps members “did not stand up to the intimidators” during battles last week in restive Sunni and Shiite cities. “It’s also very clear that we’ve got to get more senior Iraqis involved - former military types involved in the security forces,” Gen. Abizaid said. “In the next couple of days you’ll see a large number of senior officers being appointed to key positions in the ministry of defense and the Iraqi joint staff and in Iraqi field commands.” He said that himself and Lt. Gen. Sanchez, the top U.S. commander based in Baghdad, “are very much involved in the vetting and placing of these officers.” (AP 130051 Apr 04)