19 November 2003 Afternoon Edition

Kosovo News

· Holkeri given go-ahead to continue Kosovo privatization process (BBC Monitoring)
· Kosovo minister raises doubts about ways privatization to proceed under Serb law (BBC Monitoring)
· Security situation in Kosovo-Metohija improving, Chappell (Tanjug)
· UNMIK denies news on setting free of Stanoje, Novica Przic (Tanjug)

Regional News

· Nationalism stalks Balkan elections (AFP)
· Croatian moderates face nationalist election challenge (AFP)
· Russia likely to play active role in Serbian privatization – minister (BBC Monitoring)
· Police arrest 23 Afghan immigrants (AP)
· Two ethnic Albanians sentenced in attack that killed two (AP)
· Democratic Party to trade on dead leader's name (B92)
· Clark's testimony at Milosevic war crimes trial may be censored by (AP)
· Italians win contract for new Belgrade airport (Beta)

World News

· 17 central, eastern European nations to discuss EU expansion at summit (AFP)
· Senior German lawmaker wants NATO deployed in Israel (AFP)
· NATO appoints Turk as civilian envoy in Afghanistan (Reuters)

Holkeri given go-ahead to continue Kosovo privatization process
BBC MONITORING INTERNATIONAL REPORTS via NewsEdge Corporation : KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 17 November: UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] Chief Harri Holkeri said today in Prishtina that he received consent from New York to continue the privatization process and for the Kosova [Kosovo] Trust Agency [AKM in Albanian; KTA in English] to review the privatized enterprises.
"Meetings in New York with Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno, Under Secretary-General, Office of Legal Affairs Hans Corell, and their advisers, agreement was reached to restart the privatization programme in Kosovo on the firm legal basis of the existing regulations," said Holkeri.
He said that privatization would continue in accordance with the legal basis, but warned of changes to the KTA's operating policies and procedures.
Holkeri said that the meetings confirmed that the KTA should review all enterprises identified for privatization. According to him, changes to the KTA regulations and applicable laws are not necessary and the KTA is scheduling a board meeting on 21 November to brief board members.
The Kosova Chief Administrator also said that he met the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign Policy and Security, Javier Solana, to discuss the current regulations and the standards before status policy.
He said he was glad that UNMIK enjoys full support of the international community.
The privatization process in Kosova was discontinued in the first week of October, following Belgrade's pressure, although UNMIK officials say that the process was discontinued until "some legislative issues related to immunity are solved".
The privatization started on 25 February of this year, when the first six tenders were announced. Kosova is the last place in Europe to undergo this process. Only five enterprises have been privatized to date. Eighteen others have already been privatized, but no contract has been signed.
The privatization is managed by the Kosova Trust Agency (KTA), which was established by a UN regulation that gives it legitimacy for transformation of the socially owned enterprises and management of the publicly owned enterprises. In addition to KTA, there was also established a room in the frame of the Kosova Supreme Court, which deals with complaints of all alleged owners of the socially owned enterprises in Kosova.
Source: KosovaLive web site, Pristina, in English 17 Nov 03

Kosovo minister raises doubts about ways privatization to proceed under Serb law

BBC MONITORING INTERNATIONAL REPORTS via NewsEdge Corporation : KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 17 November: The Minister of Economy and Finances, Ali Sadriu, said today that, during privatization, laws enforced by the Serb regime after 22 March 1989 cannot be considered because they were discriminatory and the Albanian majority was excluded from the decision making.
The minister made these comments after meeting with the KTA [Kosovo Trust Agency - AKM in Albanian; KTA in English] Managing Director Marie Fucci and UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] Legal Office representatives. The UNMIK officials returned today from New York; where along with the SRSG [Special Representative of the Secretary General Harri] Holkeri they had talks with UN officials over the issue of privatization in Kosova.
Minister Sadriu said that the KTA should disregard Serbia's laws and carry out its mandate within the scheduled deadline, of mid-2005.
He said that if the KTA starts to assess which laws were discriminatory and which not, it would take a long time, and will be in favour of Belgrade, which has all Kosova cadastral documentation.
"The information they brought are that the privatization should continue, but I have some doubts about the ways to continue it, which certainly will be discussed by the government," said Sadriu. He added that the UNMIK delegation would have been more comprehensive if it had included Kosovars.
Upon arrival, the UN Administrator for Kosova, Harri Holkeri, said that the process of privatization will continue without amending the Regulation on the KTA, but added that some procedures of the privatized SOEs [state-owned enterprises] will be reviewed.
The Manager Fucci said that the UN has given the guidance for continuation of privatization and that the KTA Board will discuss the matter Friday [21 November]. She did not give any details or any date when the privatization will resume, but added that the Agency was never as busy as it is now.
Official of the UNMIK Legal Office, Alexander Borg-Olivier, said that for a week in New York they discussed a large number of issues, including the immunity of the KTA members and the issues of economic development.
He said that at those high level meetings they agreed on continuation of privatization, which had a great support. He said that for privatization purposes, not only the laws applicable before March 1989, but also the laws after that period, which were not discriminatory.
Source: KosovaLive web site, Pristina, in English 17 Nov 03

KOSOVOMETOHIJA-SECURITY-CEPEL
Security situation in Kosovo-Metohija improving, Cepel
14:50 KOSOVSKA MITROVICA , Nov 19 (Tanjug) - The security situation in Kosovo and Metohija is improving every year and people there should understand that, assessed on Wednesday UNMIK police spokesperson Derrik Cepel.
Cepel told local radio Contact Plus in Kosovska Mitroviac that the number of grave criminal acts, such as murder, had been reduced by 50 pct. He specified that in 2000 there had been 250 murders, and last year 68, adding that he considered that this year the number would not be over 60.

KMITROVICA-UNMIK-DENIAL
UNMIK denies news on setting free of Stanoje, Novica Przic
10:23 KOSOVSKA MITROVICA , Nov 19 (Tanjug) - UNMIK spokesman to Pristina Isabella Karlovic late on Tuesday denied the information which had been given at a Return coalition press conference in Kosovska Mitrovica that Stanoje and Novica Przic, suspected of the murder of eighteen-year-old Danijel Milosevic, had been set free.
Karlovic pointed out that one person, without giving his name, had been held in detention, and announced that on Wednesday the prosecutor would decide whether he would be set free, or if corresponding court proceedings would be instituted against him.

Nationalism stalks Balkan elections

Source: Agence France-Presse English Wire Date: November 19, 2003
by Stephen Coates
BELGRADE, Nov 19 (AFP) - Elections in Serbia and Croatia in the coming weeks provide a stark reminder that eight years after the brutal ethnic violence of the Balkan wars, nationalism still stalks the politics of southeastern Europe.
Nationalist forces are gaining ground in Serbia, the beloved homeland of former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic, and in neighbouring Croatia, where the late Franjo Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is leading its moderate rivals in opinion polls, analysts say.
General elections take place Sunday in Croatia and on December 28 in Serbia, two countries which were driven to war, economic collapse and international isolation by nationalist regimes in the 1990s.
But three years after being chased from power in both countries, nationalists are enjoying a revival.
"Every single country in transition has had a period after about three to five years where the old regimes start to gain popularity again," said analyst James Lyon, of the International Crisis Group think-tank in Belgrade.
"But I think a lot of people are surprised how quickly this has happened."
The first shock came last year in Bosnia, when nationalist Croat, Muslim and Serb parties swept back into power at the expense of moderates.
It almost happened again in neighbouring Serbia on Sunday when an ultra-nationalist candidate just missed out on being elected president.
Tomislav Nikolic, a member of the Serbian Radical Party and a former deputy prime minister under Milosevic, won the election but the result will be annulled because turnout failed to pass the required minimum of 50 percent.
"This is something that should warn us, it was a clear alert," Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic said.
Across the Balkans, nationalists offer simplistic answers to complicated problems such as chronic unemployment, massive economic restructuring and the legacy of war.
Their populist solutions are just what some voters want to hear, especially those whose jobs are under threat from economic reforms demanded by the European Union and international creditors.
But there is another common ingredient to the nationalists' success -- the failure of their reformist rivals to improve living standards and fight corruption, which is rampant throughout the region.
Croatian analyst Vlatko Cvrtila, a professor of political sciences in Zagreb, said the strength of the HDZ was not just due to its attempts to reinvent itself as a progressive, pro-Europe party.
It also could be traced to the failings of the moderate coalition government of Prime Minister Ivica Racan, he said.
"In recent years we have been living in a kind of political crisis and people have got the impression that politicians look after their own interests and do not care much about the welfare of citizens," he said.
"Opinion polls clearly show that a significant number of people are still undecided or not sure whether to vote at all. In that way people send a message that they don't care who is in power and that they're fed up."
All this is a blow not only to the reformists, but to the European institutions which prop them up.
French foreign ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said the failed presidential election in Serbia on Sunday was particularly frustrating as Paris had "invested a lot of effort" in promoting democracy here.
"The power struggle that emerged at the end of voting demonstrates the need for all Serbs who support democratic ideals and European values to rally in the run-up to legislative elections called for December 28," he said.

Croatian moderates face nationalist election challenge
Source: Agence France-Presse English Wire Date: November 19, 2003
by Lajla Veselica
ZAGREB, Nov 19 (AFP) - Croatian moderates are running neck-and-neck with a powerful nationalist party in the race for Sunday's legislative elections, which could decide who leads the country into the European Union.
Opinion polls put the nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) ahead of Prime Minister Ivica Racan's Social Democratic Party (SDP), the leading force of the incumbent center-left coalition.
Analysts say that regardless of which party emerges the strongest after the election, the next government will be a coalition and its main task will be negotiating the Balkan country's entry into the EU.
"It is beyond doubt that from a strategic point of view Croatia has opted for the EU and NATO, and that project will continue regardless of the future government," political analyst Vlatko Cvrtila told AFP.
Croatia applied for EU membership in February, hoping to start negotiations next year and join the bloc along with Bulgaria and Romania in 2007.
But Zagreb's EU bid has been jeopardised by its failure to arrest fugitive retired general Ante Gotovina, who is wanted by the UN war crimes court at The Hague for allegedly massacring at least 150 ethnic Serbs during the 1991-95 war here.
Zagreb claims that he has fled the country, but Brussels has repeatedly made it clear that it expects Croatia to hand him over, warning that full cooperation with the UN court is a key condition of EU membership.
There has been concern in some quarters that such differences will only deepen under an HDZ-led government.
The HDZ steered the country to independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and, under hardline former ruler Franjo Tudjman, through the subsequent war with rebel Serb secessionists.
Most HDZ supporters regard Gotovina as a hero who helped shorten the war and regain swathes of territory which had been captured by the rebels with the assistance of the Serbian government in Belgrade.
Even so, Cvrtila predicted "no major obstacles" would exist between the UN and an HDZ-led government "if there is a sincere intention to continue with the approach toward the EU."
HDZ leader Ivo Sanader said in an interview with AFP that his party was very different from the one which led the country during the war and would fully cooperate with the UN court "even in the case of general Gotovina."
The HDZ has been trying to prove that it has shed its nationalist skin and transformed itself into a modern conservative party since it fell from power in 2000.
"We do not want to deal with the past," Sanader said.
The incumbent leftist coalition won a landslide election victory against the HDZ in January 2000, pledging to transform Croatia into an economically stable democracy fully integrated with Europe.
Its win marked a turning point in the country's political life, as it ended almost a decade of HDZ rule which isolated Croatia on the world stage and ruined its economy.
But power has been something of a poisoned chalice for the moderates, who have seen their support base eroded by dissatisfaction with the government, while the HDZ has had time to regroup and consolidate.
The coalition is exhausted by constant internal bickering and stands accused of failing to address corruption left over from the previous regime and reduce unemployment, which stood at 18.3 percent in September.
"The voters reproach the HDZ for what they have done and the center-left coalition for what they have not done while in power," said Ivan Siber, a political analyst.
Analysts say that the center-left coalition needs high turnout in the election and the ongoing support of its main coalition partner, the Croatian Peasants' Party, which is keeping its cards close to its chest.
"If there is a low turnout than we can expect a rightist coalition in power," Cvrtila said.

Russia likely to play active role in Serbian privatization – minister
BBC MONITORING INTERNATIONAL REPORTS via NewsEdge Corporation : Text of interview with Serbian Finance Minister Bozidar Djelic by Gennadiy Sysoyev on 11 November: "'Serbia is ready to be a serious partner for Russia'", published by Russian newspaper Kommersant on 12 November
Yesterday [11 November], Russia and Serbia settled a problem that has burdened relations between them for over 10 years. The two sides agreed to clear the former Yugoslavia's Soviet debt. As soon as the intergovernmental agreement was reached, Serbian delegation head Bozidar Djelic, the republic's minister of finance and economy (who in the past worked as an adviser in Yegor Gaydar's government), explained in an exclusive interview with Kommersant correspondent Gennadiy Sysoyev what this agreement means for Russian-Serbian relations.
[Sysoyev] What is the essence of the agreement between Russia and Serbia?
[Djelic] The agreement is a complex one. First and foremost, the problem of the former Yugoslavia's Soviet debt has been solved. Some 490m dollars clearing dollars of this debt belong to Serbia. This, by agreement with the Russian side, amounts to 306m dollars. This sum takes account of the debt of Serbian company NIS [Naftna Industrija Srbije - Oil Industry of Serbia] to Russia's Gazprom to the figure of 247m dollars. Also included in the general package is the forthcoming reconstruction by Russian firms of the largest cascade in the Balkans, the Djerdap hydro-electric power station, on the Danube - the project is worth 100.6m dollars. Serbia will pay for the difference with the supply of goods.
The agreement reached has a fundamental significance: It shows, better than any declarations can show, Serbia's readiness to be a serious economic partner for Russia. And our desire to integrate into the EU is in no way a hindrance to this.
[Sysoyev] Serbia is beginning mass privatization. Are Russian firms showing any interest in this?
[Djelic] Quite a bit, actually. Serbia intends within the next two or three years to complete the privatization of the majority of its enterprises (over 1,500 in total). And Russian firms are very likely to become actively involved in this. They are showing interest above all in our energy companies (NIS and Petrohemija), two mobile communications companies and a telecommunications company, as well as a whole host of other firms. Since the collapse of Milosevic's regime, Serbia has become increasingly attractive to foreign investors. In the last three years, the volume of foreign investment in the Serbian economy has risen from 25m dollars to 1.4bn dollars.
[Sysoyev] But in the next few days, Serbia's current government, which came to power following Milosevic's departure, intends to step down. Could forces that might halt the reforms and throw Serbia backwards not get into power?
[Djelic] The present government has indeed lost its majority in parliament, and early elections in Serbia will take place, it seems, before the end of the year. But this is by no means a tragedy. The democratic coalition which replaced Milosevic's regime and which has been in power for almost three years was and is a very motley one - it is composed of almost 20 parties. And the differences that have now been manifested between them are entirely natural. The main thing is that the coalition has been able to do a great deal in terms of getting the reforms going.
Reforms in Serbia are now irreversible - regardless of which parties are to form the new government. In any case, they will be parties of a democratic orientation. Unlike certain other countries in Eastern Europe, former Communists and extreme nationalists in Serbia do not have a realistic chance of coming to power. [Sysoyev] Recently Serbian Premier Zoran Zivkovic said that the Hague tribunal's constantly growing demands on Belgrade would have a serious impact on the reforms in the country. Is this so? [Djelic] Yes. The Hague tribunal is increasingly clearly demonstrating its lack of impartiality. And this is creating serious problems for us. But the tribunal is a reality that we have to accept. Moreover, it is not the only problem we will have to solve. In the next two or three years, we will have to come to a decision on the status of Kosovo - the unresolved nature of this issue is hindering our integration into the EU. Within approximately the same length of time, we will have to definitively clarify future relations between Serbia and Montenegro as well. But whatever happens, Serbia will not go back on its policy of reforms.
Source: Kommersant, Moscow, in Russian 12 Nov 03
Police arrest 23 Afghan immigrants

BC-EU-GEN--Serbia-Illegal Immigrants
Police arrest 23 Afghan immigrants
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) _ Police have arrested 23 Afghans who crossed illegally into Serbia hoping to reach Western Europe, authorities said Wednesday.
The group was arrested on a bus Monday just south of the capital, Belgrade.
Three Serbs who apparently smuggled them into the country were also detained, the police said in a statement.
The Afghans reached Serbia through Iran, Turkey and Bulgaria, the police said.

Two ethnic Albanians sentenced in attack that killed two

BC-EU-GEN--Macedonia-Trial Two ethnic Albanians sentenced in attack that killed two NATO soldiers, civilian
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) _ Two ethnic Albanians were sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in prison each for allegedly planting an anti-tank mine earlier this year that killed two NATO soldiers and a civilian.
The local court in the northern Macedonian town of Kumanovo ruled that the two were guilty of ``terrorism, violation of the constitution ... and threatening the security of the citizens.''
The court said that Sulejman Sulejmani, 60, and Samet Litfiu, 33, deliberately placed the anti-tank mine which killed two Polish NATO soldiers and their civilian associate as they were driving on a side road in northern Macedonia in March.
International troops were deployed to the Balkan country in 2001 to provide security following a six-month ethnic conflict which ended with a Western-brokered peace plan. Ethnic Albanian insurgents had launched the insurgency, demanding greater rights for their community.
Two years later, Macedonia remains tense and occasional violence still occurs despite efforts at giving broader rights to the country's ethnic Albanians.
Sulejmani and Litfiu denied the charges against them during the trail. Their lawyer said Wednesday that he would appeal the sentence and accused the court of bias.
``I think that we have a sentence which is not corresponding with the evidence,'' said defense lawyer Numan Limani. ``In this particular case, we cannot speak about an independent judicial system.''

Democratic Party to trade on dead leader's name | 11:37 | B92
BELGRADE -- Wednesday -- The Democratic Party is to stand alone in next month’s Serbian parliamentary elections, sources within the party told B92 last night.

The solo outing will be the party’s first in the past ten years.

Outgoing Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic, undaunted by his government’s shabby record and the collapse of the DOS coalition, will lead the party to the polls under the ticket “Democratic Party Dr Zoran Djindjic”.

The move appears to be a desperate bid to arrest the party’s plummeting ratings by trading on the name of the assassinated prime minister who was the driving force of the party.

The decision was reached at a meeting of the party leadership last night, but is yet to be rubber stamped by the Central Committee, said B92’s source.

Zivkovic acknowledged in an interview on state television last night that the party had been unsuccessful in wooing the Civil Alliance of Serbia as a coalition partner.

The small but significant party is led by the respected federal foreign minister, Goran Svilanovic.

A source from the party told B92 today that the Civil Alliance had rejected Zivkovic’s proposal.

Clark's testimony at Milosevic war crimes trial may be censored by
BC-EU-POL--War Crimes-Clark-Milosevic

Clark's testimony at Milosevic war crimes trial may be censored by U.S. government
Eds: Retransmits to change slug
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) _ Former NATO commander Wesley Clark will testify behind closed doors at Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial next month, and his testimony will be vetted by the U.S. government before its release to the public, the U.N. tribunal for Yugoslavia said Wednesday.
The retired American general, now a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, will testify on Dec. 15 and 16, the court said in a statement.
Public galleries will be closed and the broadcast system which transmits the proceedings on the Internet and closed-circuit television will be shut down.
The three-judge panel hearing Milosevic's case agreed to the conditions of Clark's testimony, including a 48-hour delay to enable the U.S. government to review the transcript and seek the court's consent to censor parts on the grounds of national security.
Two U.S. representatives will attend the sessions. If the judges deem the proposed cuts are valid, they will order the tape of the testimony to be edited prior to its release. Any edited comments remain part of the record for the judges when they consider their verdict, however, a spokesman said.
As NATO commander, Clark led a 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 that ended a bloody crackdown by Yugoslav forces against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
Clark also served as director of strategy, plans and policy for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in the mid-1990s when the United States was trying to negotiate an end to the war in Bosnia.
Clark spent dozens of hours in negotiations with Milosevic, which chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte says will be important for establishing what Milosevic knew about war crimes and when he knew it.
Milosevic is representing himself against 66 counts of war crimes, including alleged genocide in Bosnia.
Clark will be one of several high-profile witnesses to testify in the last phase of the prosecution case against Milosevic, which began in February 2002. Milosevic will begin his defense next April, and the trial is expected to last into 2006. (PROFILE (WS SL:BC-EU-POL--War Crimes-Clark-Milosevic; CT:i; (REG:EURO;) (REG:BRIT;) (REG:SCAN;) (REG:ENGL;) (LANG:ENGLISH;)) )
AP-NY-11-19-03 0827EST

Italians win contract for new Belgrade airport | 12:19 | Beta
BELGRADE -- Wednesday – Belgrade’s Surcin Airport has awarded a contract for a new international terminal to Italy’s Montagna Costruzioni.

The airport reconstruction will be funded by a loan from the European Investment Bank.

The new terminal is expected to cost about 22 million dollars.

As part of its bid, Montagna has undertaken to engage eighteen Serbian companies as subcontractors.

17 central, eastern European nations to discuss EU expansion at summit
Source: Agence France-Presse English Wire Date: November 19, 2003
by Beatrice Khadige
WARSAW, Nov 19 (AFP) - Leaders of 17 central and eastern European countries gather in Warsaw from on Thursday for their last summit before the European Union's eastwards expansion next year.
The two-day meeting of the Central European Initiative (CEI) will start Thursday afternoon with various leaders meeting with Prime Minister Leszek Miller of Poland which currently presides the grouping and is hosting the meeting.
Among the leaders attending the summit will be Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, expected to arrive late Thursday, and whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
Of the 17 members of the organisation, only Croatia will not be represented by its prime minister, but by a lower-level minister, Jozef Wiejacz, a Polish official responsible for the summit, said.
The CEI, created in 1989, originally included Austria, Hungary, Italy and the former Yugoslavia, with the mission of promoting links in the areas of the environment, transport, technology, education and science.
Enlarged to a further 13 countries it now comprises Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
Wiejacz said the summit would focus on the grouping's role after the European Union's enlargement to take in another 10 countries next May, including five CEI countries -- Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia.
"This summit is taking place on the eve of the enlargement. It is therefore natural that the members of the CEI hammer out the role of the Initiative in this perspective," he said, adding that the grouping would remain important for countries staying outside the EU bloc.
Two other members, Bulgaria and Romania, hope to join the EU in 2007.
It will also give an important opportunity to Poland, the EU's biggest future member, to garner support for its battle on talks on a future EU constitution to hang on to voting rights it won when the EU's Nice treaty was negotiated in 2000.
"The debate on the Nice treaty is not officially on the agenda, but the question will certainly be brought up at numerous bilateral meetings, planned on the summit's sidelines of the summit," Wiejacz said.
On Thursday evening the leaders are scheduled to meet Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, and attend a gala concert at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
Plenary debates will take place on Friday, with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Walter Schwimmer, representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the United Nations, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in attendance.
The leaders will be accompanied by their economy ministers who will take part in an economic forum discussing the advantages of the EU's enlargement.
Some 1,500 businessmen and representatives of local authorities, financial institutions, international organisations and government agencies will also take part in the forum.
During discussions economy ministers will look at perspectives for foreign investment in the context of the EU enlargement, Urszula Mirska-Strebska, an official at the foreign ministry said.
The summit is expected to give the formal approval needed for the financing of 40 projects, including the modernisation of Macedonia's Skopje airport.
Senior German lawmaker wants NATO deployed in Israel

Source: Agence France-Presse English Wire Date: November 19, 2003
BERLIN, Nov 19 (AFP) - NATO troops, possibly including a German contingent, should be deployed to Israel to keep the peace in the Middle East, the chairman of the German parliament's defence committee said Wednesday.
"The situation in the Middle East is so messed up that the two sides can't manage to agree on their own any more," Reinhold Robbe, a member of the ruling Social Democrats, told the online edition of the news magazine Der Spiegel.
"Both sides need a perspective, a military presence."
As US troops were already heavily engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, the only military option left was NATO, he added, pointing to the success of the alliance's past mission in Macedonia.
"NATO must go to Israel. It will happen, whether certain people in Germany like it or not."
Robbe also said a German participation could not be ruled out, despite its Nazi past and role in the slaughter of millions of Jews.
"Considering our history, we would have to examine very carefully what role the Germany army would play in an allied mission," he said.
Robbe said Israeli criticism of EU policy in the Middle East was justified in part.
"There is a phalanx of people in the EU who still think (Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat is a great man. These people must think again."
km/loc/ns
Mideast-NATO-Germany

NATO appoints Turk as civilian envoy in Afghanistan

BRUSSELS, Nov 19 (Reuters) - NATO said on Wednesday it had appointed former Turkish Foreign Minister Hikmet Cetin as its senior civilian representative in the Afghan capital, where the alliance commands a 5,700-strong peacekeeping force.
Cetin will liaise between the Kabul-based International Security Assistance Force and the interim government, the United Nations, the European Union and non-governmental organisations.
A NATO official said the alliance made a similar appointment in Skopje during its recent peacekeeping operation in Macedonia.
``The situation is quite analogous,'' he said. ``In Macedonia there was a sovereign government and we were in a highly political environment, and so although much of the work was military some things strayed into a more political arena.''
Cetin, who will be based in Kabul, was Turkish minister of foreign affairs from 1991 to 1994 and speaker of parliament from 1997-1999.
Reut08:54 11-19-03