Review of European Security Issues
21 March 2006
Milosevic's death; Kosovo talks; U.S. commander on strategy in Europe, Africa; U.S. troops leaving Iceland; U.S.-Bulgaria close to basing deal; "impasse" in Northern Ireland; EU may cut Bosnia force
Following are some recent U.S. government policy pronouncements, hearings and reports on security issues in Europe and Eurasia, as well as some noteworthy announcements by international organizations and nongovernmental organizations.
For additional coverage of the topics listed below and related issues, see Europe and Eurasia.
U.S. REAFFIRMS SUPPORT FOR TRIBUNAL AFTER MILOSEVIC'S DEATH
Following the March 11 death of former Yugoslav Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic, the United States reiterated its support for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which is trying persons accused of atrocities committed in the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s. (See related article.)
Milosevic, who suffered chronic heart ailments and high blood pressure, was found dead in his bed at the detention center in The Hague, Netherlands. He apparently died of natural causes, the ICTY said in a press release. The United Nations News Service reported March 15 that the ICTY is considering releasing confidential documents to aid Dutch authorities investigating the death of Milosevic. (See U.N. media statement.) An interim report released March 17 found no evidence that Milosevic had been poisoned.
"Milosevic was the principal figure responsible for the violent dismemberment of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, including the outbreak of two horrific wars in Bosnia and Kosovo," the U.S. State Department said following his death. (See statement.) "The United States supports a future for the Serbian people of peace, security, prosperity and greater integration with the Euro-Atlantic community," the statement says. However, the State Department also said the United States supports the continuation of ICTY trials.
Milosevic had been on trial since February 2002, defending himself against 66 counts of crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Convention in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. Milosevic, president of Serbia from 1989-1997 and president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997-2000, was the first sitting head of state ever to be indicted for such crimes.
The United States has urged the governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro to call on other indicted war criminals to give themselves up, including former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadic and his military commander Ratko Mladic. (See related article.)
KOSOVO TALKS RESUME -- NOT MEANT TO PUNISH TODAY'S BELGRADE
Kosovo's future-status talks resumed March 17 in Vienna, Austria, and a senior U.S. diplomat says the negotiations are not meant to punish Belgrade's current democratic government for totalitarian policies of the Milosevic era.
Delegations from Kosovo and Serbia held their second round of direct talks March 17, the U.N. News Service reported. (See U.N. article.) The first round of talks took place in February.
The U.N.-sponsored talks are using a "bottom-up approach," said U.N. Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari of Finland. The two parties are "starting the process by dealing with practical and 'status-neutral' issues" such as how local governments can cooperate to improve services for citizens, he said.
The talks could lead either to independence or autonomy for Kosovo, which is a province of Serbia and Montenegro. Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since U.S. and NATO forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 following human-rights abuses.
"The political process to decide Kosovo's status is not a reflection on the current government of Serbia and Montenegro," said Rosemary DiCarlo, deputy assistant secretary of state for South Central Europe in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, on March 10. (See related article.)
DiCarlo pointed out that U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, which was passed on June 10, 1999, "specifically called for a political process to determine Kosovo's status."
Answering questions during a State Department-hosted webchat, DiCarlo also cautioned that the outcome of the talks should not be prejudged. "Let's await the results of the status process," she said. (See transcript.)
The United States and its partners in Europe say 2006 should be a pivotal year for the region, where former war-torn nations are rebuilding their economies and seeking closer ties with the European Union and NATO.
"We strongly believe that increased trade and economic cooperation in the region will serve to further lower tensions and improve conditions throughout the region," DiCarlo said.
More than 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million inhabitants are ethnic Albanians, and international peacekeeping forces today protect minority Serb communities and cultural sites.
COMMANDER OUTLINES U.S. MILITARY STRATEGY FOR EUROPE, AFRICA
The United States is trimming troop levels in Europe but will keep a significant presence to maintain NATO leadership while teaming with allies to solve long-term threats, the U.S. commander in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa says.
Today's threats include terrorism, radical fundamentalism, weapons proliferation, drug trafficking and uncontrolled illegal immigration, Marine Corps General James Jones told the Senate and House armed services committees March 7 and March 8, respectively. (See related article.)
"Western Europe has now benefited from 60 years of peace and stability," Jones said. "Our strategic goal is to expand similar peace and prosperity to Eastern Europe and Africa."
Jones, who is chief of U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, discussed ongoing shifts in troop levels, the creation of rotational force hubs in Bulgaria and Romania and initiatives in Africa to improve regional peacekeeping while thwarting the movement of potential terrorists in ungoverned areas.
EUCOM, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, coordinates U.S. military relations with 91 countries, from Cape Town, South Africa, to Russia's Pacific coast.
U.S. TROOPS LEAVING ICELAND BY END OF SEPTEMBER
The United States has notified Iceland of plans to remove American troops by the end of September as part of the ongoing repositioning of forces and worldwide. (See related article.)
The announcement affects 1,200 active-duty military personnel at Naval Air Station Keflavik. Including family members and U.S. civilian employees, about 2,800 Americans live and work on and around the base. About 600 Icelanders also work for the base.
By the end of 2006, about 10,000 U.S. troops also are departing Europe, mainly from bases in Germany. However, small operating bases and outposts are being opened in Romania, Bulgaria and elsewhere to reflect changes in global threats.
Officials stressed that the United States will continue to honor its 1951 defense agreement with Iceland, which has no armed forces of its own. U.S. officials plan to meet soon with Icelandic officials to discuss the future of the U.S.-Icelandic military relationship.
Keflavik has been home to about 1,200 active-duty Air Force and Navy personnel, as well as four F-15 Eagle fighter aircraft. The United States spends about $260 million each year to maintain its military presence in Iceland. U.S. forces have been stationed on Iceland in large numbers since World War II. During the Cold War, the country's strategic location allowed U.S. naval vessels and aircraft to patrol the North Atlantic for Soviet military activity.
AMBASSADOR EXPECTS BULGARIA BASE DEAL BY END OF APRIL
U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria John Beyrle said March 8 that he expects the agreement establishing U.S. military bases on Bulgarian territory to be concluded by the end of April. His comment came during a visit to the Sliven region, where one of the bases would be located, the Southeast European Times reported.
The United States and neighboring Romania reached a similar basing agreement late in 2005. In recent weeks, senior U.S. officials have made numerous trips to Bulgaria in advance of a meeting of NATO ministers scheduled for April 27 to 28. (See related article.)
In congressional testimony March 7 and March 8, General James Jones, chief of U.S. European Command, said U.S. forces expect soon to start establishing an Eastern European Task Force. The task force will include a headquarters at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base near Contanta, Romania.
The task force "significantly increases" the ability of U.S. and partner forces to coordinate and conduct training and missions in Eurasia and the Caucasus, Jones said. It will include several hundred or, at most, a few thousand rotational troops who are on temporary assignments to Bulgaria and Romania (See related article.).
DIPLOMAT HOPES "IMPASSE" IN NORTHERN IRELAND IS "SHORT-LIVED"
A basic lack of trust between the two largest political parties in Northern Ireland has brought the peace process to an impasse, a U.S. official said at a congressional hearing March 15.
However, Ambassador Mitchell Reiss, the special envoy of the president and the secretary of state for the Northern Ireland peace process, also said there has been considerable progress over the past 18 months and that "hopefully, it is an impasse that will be short-lived." (See related article.)
Reiss said that in July 2005 the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) announced it would foreswear violence, and in the fall it decommissioned a substantial portion of its weapons arsenal. The IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein, and its leader Gerry Adams "deserve enormous credit for moving the republican movement in this direction," Reiss told a House subcommittee.
These moves by the IRA -- which has been designated by the U.S. Department of State as a foreign terrorist organization -- raised hopes that the 1998 Good Friday Agreement would be implemented fully.
But two of the principal antagonists in the decades-old inter-communal conflict continue to harbor doubts that have stalled the peace process. Sinn Fein refuses to support the police in Northern Ireland or to encourage its constituents -- Catholic Republicans -- to join the police service. On the Protestant side, Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) "refuses to enter into local government with Sinn Fein, or even to talk with them at an official level," said Reiss.
"While the political process is currently stalled," Reiss said, "the peace … is going well." As encouraging signs, he cited Northern Ireland's growing economy, low unemployment, growing support for integrated education and increasing public support for policing in Unionist, nationalist, loyalist and Republican communities.
"Now is not the time to be complacent," Reiss said, assuring the committee the Bush administration will continue to work hard to assist the British and Irish governments and the people of Northern Ireland "to realize the full promise of the Good Friday Agreement."
EU TO CONSIDER REDUCING MILITARY PRESENCE IN BOSNIA
The European Union is considering cuts to its Europe Force (EUFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina later this year, the Austrian presidency of the EU said March 6 in Innsbruck, Austria. The United States has maintained a relatively small military presence in Bosnia since NATO turned over the peacekeeping mission to the European Union in December 2004.
About 6,700 EUFOR troops will remain in place through Bosnia's October elections, then probably will be reduced to 6,000 if a Bosnian government is formed without any problems, Austrian Defense Minister Guenther Platter told reporters. The EU then will decide whether gradually to limit its military presence in Bosnia to 2,500 troops, local news agencies reported. (See related article.)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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