Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

20 April 2004

NATO

• "NATO attaches great importance, as does the European Union for instance, to elements and values like the rule of law, democracy, freedom of the media," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said after a meeting with Ukraine Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko. "And we certainly hope and expect that Ukraine will also pay due attention to these values in the political process in this country," he said. Ukraine aspires to integrate with NATO and the EU while maintaining close ties with its huge neighbor, Russia. Gryshchenko said that "coming closer with NATO is one of our goals." Meeting with de Hoop Scheffer later, President Leonid Kuchma said that through participation in peacekeeping missions and other cooperation, "we want to emphasize that we intend to move seriously toward NATO," the Interfax news agency reported. De Hoop Scheffer said NATO has not decided whether a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO council should be held at the level of heads of state essentially, whether or not to invite Kuchma. He hinted the decision would depend on Ukraine's progress on issues that concern the alliance, saying that it "is also to some extent in Ukrainian hands" and that "there is also some Ukrainian homework to do, as NATO has to do its homework." (AP 191714 Apr 04)
  
  
• NATO would like to unveil a cooperation pact with Gulf Arab states at the Western military alliance's next summit in June, a NATO official said on Monday. "It will be a cooperation deal that should open up a new chapter in the relationship between NATO and the countries in the Gulf," Gunther Altenburg, assistant secretary-general for political affairs, told a conference in Doha, capital of Qatar. "NATO and partner countries determine together how their cooperation should look like, how it should be structured and how it should evolve," he said. "We both need to be open, honest, candid, even blunt. We need to overcome prejudices and misperceptions. And most of all we need to recognise our common interests," he told the conference on NATO's transformation and security in the Gulf. (Reuters 191615 GMT Apr 04)

IRAQ

• NATO said Monday it had no plans to help fill the gap left by Spanish troops which the new government in Madrid wants to withdraw from Iraq. "This is not something that is foreseen at this present moment," Alessandro Minuto Rizzo, NATO's deputy secretary general told reporters. NATO's role in Iraq is limited to providing backup to a Polish-led division of 9,500 troops in south-central Iraq which includes the 1,300 Spanish soldiers and about 1,000 soldiers from El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Honduras, all under Spanish command. "Iraq is not a NATO operation, so the decision taken by Spain is a decision of the Spanish government," he said. (AP 191314 Apr 04)
  
  
• President Ricardo Maduro, a close ally of the United States, said he had already told coalition countries that Honduras' 370 soldiers in Iraq would soon quit the country. He said in a television and radio address the withdrawal would be carried out "in the shortest possible time and under safe conditions for our troops." Honduras said earlier Monday it was considering the withdrawal due to spiraling violence and pressure created by Spain's decision to pull its forces out. (Reuters 200324 GMT Apr 04)

OTHER NEWS

• U.S. President Bush plans to launch a new international initiative to help train and equip foreign troops for peacekeeping missions around the world, administration officials said on Monday. The expected five-year, $660 million plan, first reported by The Washington Post, could help relieve pressure on American forces stretched thin by deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti and elsewhere. The money will be used for training, equipment and logistical support to help ready countries for peacekeeping missions on short notice, chiefly in their own regions. "They have a greater familiarity with the people in their regions and can be deployed in a more rapid manner," an administration official said. Dubbed the Global Peace Operations Initiative, the campaign will be aimed largely at Africa. The program will also assist armies in Asia, Latin America and Europe, with the goal of training up to 75,000 foreign troops. (Reuters 191309 GMT Apr 04)