Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

27 May 2004

NATO

• NATO officials confirmed that the alliance’s AWACS early warning planes will provide cover for the Athens Olympics, as well as next month’s European soccer championship in Portugal. The planes will also provide security at a NATO summit on June 28-29 in Istanbul. NATO officials said no decision had yet been taken on sending other units to the Athens games as discussions were still ongoing with the Greek military on what was required. However they said it was likely Greek requests would be met. Officials said the decision to send AWACS to the sporting events had been made by Gen. James L. Jones, the alliance’s top commander in Europe, with backing from all 26 allied governments. (AP 261616 May 04)

BALKANS

• NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Wednesday encouraged Croatia in its drive for membership amid growing public indifference in the former Yugoslav republic toward the military alliance. “I’ve come to support Croatia, to encourage it in its understandable ambition ... to become a member of NATO,” the alliance’s chief said following a meeting with Prime Minister Ivo Sanader in Zagreb. Only 31 percent of Croats said they supported NATO membership in a recent poll conducted by the Metron/Vectura agency. As many as 32 percent were against, while over 36 percent were undecided. Mr. de Hoop Scheffer expressed hopes that the final declaration at a NATO summit to be held next month in Istanbul would put forward Croatia, Macedonia (sic) and Albania as candidates in the bloc’s next expansion. (AP 261555 May 04)

IRAQ

• Four key nations proposed major changes to the U.S.-British draft resolution on Iraq, moves that would give the new government control over the Iraqi army and police and require the multinational force to consult on military actions except for self-defence. A three-page proposal by China - which diplomats said Wednesday was supported in large part by Russia, France and Germany - would give the interim government that takes over on June 30 the right to decide whether foreign forces remain in the country and limit the multinational mandate to January 2005. (AP 270351 May 04)
  
• The president of Poland expressed his support to U.S. President Bush for plans to transfer power to an Iraqi government, the Polish president’s office said in Warsaw. In their telephone conversation, Mr. Kwasniewski and Mr. Bush also agreed on the need “to increase NATO’s role in stabilizing Iraq,” the statement added. (AP 261813 May 04)
  

OTHER NEWS

• The United States, Russia and the UN are working to round up nuclear material across the globe to keep it out of the hands of rogue states and militants trying to acquire anything from crude “dirty bombs” to atomic weapons. IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said the plan was a crucial step in reducing the nuclear threat in light of the recent discovery of a global black market. (Reuters 261347 GMT May 04)
  
• The Bush administration is adding Burkina Faso in Africa and Dominica in the Caribbean to the list of countries that exempt U.S. troops from international prosecution for war crimes. The United States has signed bilateral treaties with more than three dozen nations that have agreed not to hand over American citizens. (AP 262050 May 04)