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SHAPE
News Summary & Analysis
19
August 2004
NATO
- According
to an AFP dispatch, Aug. 18, the Turkish Air Force announced Wednesday
that air forces of 16 NATO member countries will meet in Turkey next
month for the Alliance’s largest planned air manoeuvres. Some
100 aircraft, including tanker planes and early warning aircraft,
and nearly 1,500 personnel will participate in the exercise, codenamed “NATO
Air Meet”, set to take place at a major air base in the central
Turkish province of Konya September 4-16. The scenario for the exercise,
added the report, involves joint air operations to destroy enemy
air defense and electronic warfare capabilities. Participant countries
are Germany, the U.S., Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France,
the Netherlands, Britain, Italy, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Turkey and Greece, while Estonia and Lithuania will attend
as observers. Meantime, German news agency ddp, Aug. 18,
reported the Defense Ministry in Berlin announcing that forces of
the NATO
Response Force (NRF) are for the first time holding exercises in
central Germany. Approximately 500 Belgian, Dutch, and German NRF
medical orderlies are expected to arrive at the central training
center of the Bundeswehr medical corps in Weissenfels and Leipzig
to take part in the “White Rock” exercise. The training
is scheduled to last until 28 August.
MIDDLE EAST
- According
to an AFP dispatch, the new chief of the UN Mission in Kosovo
on Tuesday earmarked security, Serb-Albanian dialogue and
democratic standards as the priorities for his mandate.
“Security evidently must be the basis of what we do
in Kosovo,” Danish diplomat Soeren Jessen-Petersen reportedly
told reporters at the first press conference since he took
over the post earlier this week. The diplomat, observes the
report, is the fifth head of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)
since its beginning in 1999 and replaced Harri Holkeri from
Finland, who had resigned for health reasons in May. The new
chief, continued the news agency, confirmed that among his
most important tasks would be re-establishing a dialogue between
the Serb minority and ethnic Albanian majority: “We
need international dialogue between Kosovo Albanians, Kosovo
Serbs and other minorities.” About the democratic
standards to be reached, he was reported as saying:
“Standards are a road map for a better Kosovo, there
is no detour on that road toward status. Standards are a step
on the way to EU integration.” He also reportedly
declined to comment on the intention of some Kosovo Serbs
to boycott the forthcoming general elections on October 23,
saying however that “whoever decides to stay outside
does so at their own risk,” and referring to the Serbian
government which advised Kosovo Serbs not to take part in
the vote, ha also added: “It’s a great disservice
for those whose interests they are supposed to serve.”
UNITED STATES-TROOP BASING
- AFP, Aug. 18, reported a NATO source as saying that the
U.S. vowed Wednesday to continue consultations with its European
allies
over plans announced this week for its biggest troops pullout since
the end of the Cold War. Germany will bear the brunt of this huge reorganization,
comments the dispatch, with about 30,000 troops due to go home by the
end of the decade, while Britain and Italy are also likely to be affected.
According to diplomats, added the report, the German Ambassador was
the only one to respond to his U.S. counterpart’s statement,
saying that while Germany “understands what the U.S. is doing,
it regrets it in a way, because it is the end of a chapter.” Bulgarian
daily 24 Chasa, Aug. 18, wrote that, according to a senior military
officer, the Americans want the triangle formed by Novo Selo, Atiya,
and Bezmer (southeastern Bulgaria). The officer reportedly said the
infantry would receive training at the Novo Selo testing grounds, while
Atiya is perfect as a naval base and Bezmer is a good airbase. The
Pentagon was also reported to be planning to deploy at Cape Emine a
modern radar station for monitoring traffic on the Black Sea. On the
same subject, Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Aug. 18, reported
that active preparations are under way in Baku to receive and site
the U.S. military who will arrive in Azerbaijan no later than next
fall within the framework of the large-scale regrouping of U.S. troop
units stationed abroad. The fact that U.S. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld
visited Ukraine as well as Azerbaijan last week, argued the daily,
has prompted Russian expertsto expect imminent news of the transfer
of a U.S. mobile contingent to Kiev as well.
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