Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

5 August 2004

AFGHANISTAN

• Afghanistan's powerful defense minister is backing a rival to President Hamid Karzai in the country's coming elections, and has insisted he will not use violence to try and hang on to office. In his first public reaction, Fahim said Wednesday the decision was a "mistake" that had alienated many of the militia leaders who helped U.S. forces oust the Taliban in late 2001. But he insisted that the upcoming power struggle would be peaceful. "The time to pick up a gun and fight is over," Fahim told reporters. "Now is the time for politicians. I'm supporting Mr. Qanooni along with some other ministers," Fahim said. "Karzai no longer has much support among the mujahideen." (AP 050052 Aug 04)

IRAQ

• Germany is considering sending a limited number of troops and vehicles to the United Arab Emirates to help train Iraqi forces in truck repair, road and bridge building and mine removal, officials said on Wednesday. "In this connection, the government is considering making available 100 trucks from German military inventory to Iraqi forces," spokesman Hans Langguth told a news conference. "There won't be any training before October," Gernot Erler told the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper. "We and our partners need more time to make the necessary preparations." (Reuters 041655 GMT Aug 04)

OLYMPICS

• "We are doing whatever is humanly possible to provide the world with safe and secure Games," organising committee chief Gianna Angelopoulos said earlier this year. Thousands of cameras and microphones across Athens will assist authorities in monitoring traffic and crowd movements, while a Zeppelin airship and three police helicopters will hover above the city 24 hours a day. Greece will also receive NATO assistance for air and sea patrols during the Games as well as help in dealing with a potential nuclear, chemical or biological attack. Several AWAC surveillance planes will patrol the skies around the clock above the country while NATO vessels will sail in international waters off Greece, screening ships. The alliance's new special forces battalion trained to defend against weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has settled in the town of Halkida, an hour from the capital, ready to be brought in in case of an attack. The WMD defence operation, known as Distinguished Games, is the first major mission of NATO's new Multinational Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Task Force. (Reuters 050109 GMT Aug 04)

SUDAN

• A former Sudanese foreign minister who is now a UN envoy urged the U.S. and other countries to support the African Union's beefed-up peacekeeping mission in western Darfur without intervening directly. Francis Deng, who just returned from Sudan, said he believes the government will be receptive to the African group's plan announced Wednesday to deploy 1,800 peacekeeping troops instead of sending a 300-member protection force. Deng said the crisis in Darfur must be seen as the latest tragedy in a half-century of conflict spawned primarily by discrimination. This "painful" situation also provides an opportunity for Sudan's leaders to recognize "that there is a quest for equality throughout the country" and that there is a possibility of building a united nation, he said. Annan urged Sudan's leaders on Wednesday to honor their July 3 commitments to the UN to protect civilians and immediately start disarming the pro-government Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, and other outlawed forces. The government also fears that disarming the Arab militias could shift power to rebels from Darfur's African tribes, so there must also be a cease-fire and negotiations with the rebels, Deng said. (AP 050425 Aug 04)