Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

4 June 2004

U.S. TROOP BASING

• The Pentagon has proposed a plan to withdraw two Army divisions from Germany and make other changes in its European forces in a sweeping global realignment of the U.S. military, The New York Times reported on Friday. The aim of the plan is to give the U.S. military greater flexibility in sending forces to the Middle East, Central Asia and other potential battlegrounds, the newspaper said, citing Pentagon policy makers. But some experts and allied officials are concerned the shift would reduce Washington’s influence in NATO and weaken diplomatic links with its allies, the newspaper said. Mr. Douglas Feith, the U.S. under secretary of defence for policy, recently briefed German officials on the plan, the newspaper added, citing administration officials. Under the proposal, the First Armoured Division and the First Infantry Division would be returned to the United States. Other possible changes could include moving a wing of F-16 fighters from their base in Spangdahlem, Germany, to the Incirlik base in Turkey, or transferring the Navy’s headquarters in Europe from Britain to Italy. (Reuters 040433 GMT Jun 04)

AFGHANISTAN

• NATO will miss the June 28-29 summit deadline it set for an expansion of its peacekeeping force in Afghanistan because allies have not offered sufficient specialist forces and equipment, diplomats said on Thursday in Brussels. The failure would be a blow to the U.S.-led alliance’s credibility and leave little time to widen the net of security in Afghanistan before September’s elections. U.S. Deputy of State Richard Armitage told reporters after meeting NATO ambassadors on Wednesday that the five Provincial Reconstruction Teams would be “identified” before Istanbul but not operational until the end of the summer. U.S. Congressman Doug Bereuter, president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, said this week he was writing to all alliance leaders calling for urgent action to fill the Afghan mission’s personnel and equipment gaps. (Reuters 031555 GMT Jun 04)

BALKANS

• Four Serbian generals indicted for atrocities in Kosovo’s 1998-99 war will have to face justice before the UN war crimes tribunal, Serbia’s deputy prime minister acknowledged Thursday. “Sooner or later, they will find themselves in The Hague,” Mr. Miroljub Labus said of the generals. He declined to elaborate on whether the suspects might surrender voluntarily or be arrested and extradited to the court in The Hague, but acknowledged that either scenario would come as a result of Western pressure on his republic. (AP 031537 Jun 04)

IRAQ

• Russia raised a piece of unfinished business in the Security Council debate on a UN resolution backing the restoration of sovereignty to Iraqis - what about the search for weapons of mass destruction? Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Alexander Konuzin, said the U.S.-British resolution on Iraq should specify who will be responsible for searching for alleged weapons stores and for maintaining any uncovered by UN monitors before the war. (AP 040248 Jun 04)

OTHER NEWS

• The Bush administration designated Morocco as a major non-NATO U.S. ally in a move that officials said would reward Moroccan support for the U.S. war on terrorism with new American arms sales. “The president took this step in recognition of the close U.S.-Moroccan relationship and our appreciation for Morocco’s steadfast support on the war on terror,” a senior administration official said in Washington. Elevated non-NATO status does not entail the same mutual defence and security guarantees that exist between the U.S. and European allies. (Reuters 040007 GMT Jun 04)
  
• Pakistan on Friday successfully test-fired a ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the second such test in less than a week, a military official said in Islamabad. The Ghauri missile is capable of carrying all types of warheads and travelling up to 1,500 km. (Reuters 040408 GMT Jun 04)
  
• More UN peacekeepers will probably be needed in the Congo where rioters attacked UN compounds, furious at the world body for not stopping rebels from seizing a key town, a senior UN official said on Thursday. “I think it’s likely that we may need more troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” said Jean-Marie Guehenno, the UN undersecretary-general in charge of peacekeeping. “It depends on the mandate the Security Council will give us.” (Reuters 031954 GMT Jun 04)