Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

23 August 2004

AFGHANISTAN

• The UN Staff Union urged Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday to consider withdrawing UN personnel from Afghanistan following the bombing of a UN voter registration site and a spate of attacks on election workers. "As we approach the election time, more than likely attacks will intensify," said Guy Candusso, the union's vice-president. "We think the UN should consider suspending operations and rethink security before moving into the next critical phase of the election process." "The overall security in Afghanistan is in the process of being upgraded, both on a management and operational level," UN associate spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "Obviously, security is being examined on a daily basis in the country's different regions. And as in every mission, we have to tailor our activities to the security conditions." He called for an urgent increase in international security assistance, saying it was critical for the success of the electoral process. He welcomed NATO's recent decision to increase its troop strength and expressed hope that the new soldiers will arrive in time for the presidential election campaign that starts in early September and remain beyond April's scheduled parliamentary elections. (AP 202322 Aug 04)
  
• The Netherlands will send six F-16 fighter jets and up to 210 supporting troops to Afghanistan to boost security during elections there, the Dutch Cabinet said Friday. The additional 170 to 210 Dutch troops are being sent to Afghanistan as part of an expanded NATO presence around the elections, slated for Oct. 9. NATO has pledged to up its force in Afghanistan from 6,500 troops to around 10,000 for the vote. The F-16s will be accompanied by a KDC-10 refueling aircraft and will depart mid-September, a statement said. In addition, the Dutch are sending a C-130 Hercules transport plane with a crew of 15 to neighboring Uzbekistan to provide logistical support to the NATO mission. (AP 201638 Aug 04)
  

BALKANS

• War crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic is believed to be hiding in the border regions of Serbia and neighbouring Bosnia, pro-Western Serbian President Boris Tadic was quoted as saying on Friday. "I trust police and military reports that I am getting today: that Mladic is somewhere between Bosnia and Serbia," he said Tadic, who has vowed that Mladic would be captured if located in Serbia, warned that failure to cooperate with the UN court would isolate Serbia internationally. Western officials have made clear Belgrade stands no chance of building closer ties with the European Union and NATO without bringing Mladic and other fugitives to justice. "Of course, we can decide not to cooperate with The Hague tribunal but we have to be aware that the consequences would be catastrophic," Tadic said. (Reuters 201215 GMT Aug 04)

TERRORISM

• Security forces are hunting for more terror suspects, officials said, as Pakistan revealed it has arrested a dozen al-Qaida-linked militants planning to launch simultaneous suicide attacks on government leaders and the U.S. Embassy. Officials said the plot could have killed hundreds of people, underscoring the deadly stakes in President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's aggressive push to defeat violent extremists enraged by his support of the U.S.-led war on terrorism. "We have infiltrated their network and that is why we have made these arrests," Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat told The AP on Sunday. "They wanted to destabilize Pakistan, they wanted to create unrest and they wanted to weaken this government." Security agencies seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including dozens of bombs, grenades, rocket launchers and detonators and electronic surveillance devices. They also found belts used to strap explosives to a suicide attacker's body. (AP 230055 Aug 04)