Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

06 July 2004

NATO

• NATO Secretary-General de Hoop Scheffer said on Monday that he wants member states to consider ways to share costs for alliance military missions so that those supplying the troops are not left to carry the financial burden. Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who met Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende in The Hague, said the present system in the 26-nation alliance where the countries that provided the troops also paid for their mission meant the “costs fall where costs are made.” “This means that countries with a modern military always end up paying,” he added. He suggested that member states could make voluntary funding contributions and pointed to the cost sharing that NATO countries employ now for AWACS surveillance planes. (Reuters 051852 GMT Jul 04)

MIDDLE EAST

• In his pitch for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, the head of the UN atomic watchdog agency is likely this week to press for at least tacit acknowledgment from Israel that it has such arms or the means to make them. Israel does not directly comment on its nuclear capacity, and the International Atomic Energy Agency will not specify how hard IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei will push officials during his two-day visit to the Jewish state starting on Tuesday. But ahead of the trip, Mr. ElBaradei has said that Israel should start talking seriously about a Middle East free of nuclear arms whether or not it owes up to owning them. (AP 060013 Jul 04)

IRAQ

• Foreign Muslim militants from across the Arab world have appeared in a chilling video tape which claimed they carried out some of the bloodiest bombings in Iraq since the war ended. The tape obtained by Time magazine and given to Reuters Television shows young men enraged by the U.S. occupation of Iraq saying farewell to their loved ones before climbing into vehicles and blowing themselves up in operations across the country. The U.S. military and senior Iraqi officials have said for months that foreign fighters have played a major role in bombings and shootings that have killed thousands of people and destabilised the country. (Reuters 052027 GMT Jul 04)
  
  
• After a 13-year interruption, France and Iraq intend to re-establish diplomatic relations within the next few days, the French Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday. Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi met Monday with Bernard Bajolet, France’s highest diplomatic representative in Iraq, and discussed restoration of ties. “Mr. Allawi said he wanted to do it as fast as possible so that France can participate in the reconstruction of Iraq,” a spokesman said. (AP 051935 Jul 04)

OTHER NEWS

• Concerns about Slobodan Milosevic’s health prompted judges on Monday to question whether Europe’s biggest war crimes proceedings in more than half a century could continue. Prosecutors asked the court to impose a defence counsel on Milosevic, who is running his own defence. The three judges are to rule by Tuesday on how to proceed. (Reuters 051138 GMT Jul 04)
  
  
• China’s increasingly high-tech military capabilities need to be watched closely, along with Beijing’s marine research near Japan’s exclusive economic zone, the Japanese government said in a defence white paper on Tuesday in Tokyo. “China has been modernising its nuclear and missile forces as well as its naval and air forces. Careful deliberation should go into determining whether the objective of this modernisation exceeds the scope necessary for the defence of China, and future developments in this area merit special attention,” it added. Japan’s military is undergoing the most sweeping review of its forces in five decades to cope with new threats and a report is due out later this year. (Reuters 060302 GMT Jul 04)
  
  
• The African Union said it would send several hundred peacekeepers to the Darfur region of western Sudan. The announcement came Monday as members of the 53-nation group gathered for a summit in Ethiopia. The 300 soldiers will be the first peacekeeping force for Darfur, described by the United Nations as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. They will protect refugees in Sudan and in neighbouring Chad. (AP 060204 Jul 04)