Professional Soldiers ® - View Single Post - Open Source Daily INTSUM: Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005

**Airbornelawyer** · 11-03-2005, 10:19

From the RFE/RL Newsline:

Russia

CHECHEN LEADER THREATENS TO BROADEN HOSTILITIES...
In an address to the Chechen people on the occasion of the end of Ramadan, which was posted on chechenpress.org on 3 November, Chechen President and resistance leader Abdul-Khalim Sadullaev said that Russia's policy of "terror" is impelling all the peoples of the North Caucasus to rise up against it. He noted the resistance has launched "large-scale" military operations not only in Chechnya but in Daghestan, Ingushetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria, and he warned that "in future, with the help of almighty Allah, we shall stage [such attacks] in other locations as well." He did not elaborate.

...AND RULES OUT NEW PEACE PROPOSALS
In the same 3 November address to the Chechen people, Sadullaev recalled that his predecessor as president, Aslan Maskhadov, repeatedly proposed beginning peace talks with Russia, and he claimed that Maskhadov was "lured" into such talks and then killed. He said the Chechen side will not propose further peace talks, but continue fighting "until the Caucasus is freed from the boot of the Russian occupiers." Testifying before the Chechen Supreme Court on 18 October, Vakhit Murdashev, who was with Maskhadov when he was killed during an attack on his hideout in the village of Tolstoi-Yurt on 8 March, similarly said that Maskhadov was preparing for peace talks with Moscow, "Izvestiya" reported on 25 October. Murdashev said Maskhadov had named him as his envoy for those talks.

Transcaucasia And Central Asia

UN 'DOES NOT PLAN' TO EXPAND ABKHAZ MISSION
The UN Security Council is not currently considering changing the format of the UN mission in Abkhazia, ITAR-TASS quoted Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representatives for the Abkhaz conflict, as telling journalists in Tbilisi on 2 November. She said the members of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) "cooperate constructively" with the Russian peacekeeping force deployed in the Abkhaz conflict zone, and that the UN will not become involved in the ongoing discussion -- triggered by a Georgian parliament resolution of 11 October -- on their withdrawal. Georgian Ambassador to the UN Revaz Adamia reportedly wrote last month to the UN Security Council requesting a full-fledged UN peacekeeping mission for Abkhazia, where UNOMIG currently has 121 military observers. Meanwhile, regnum.ru on 2 November quoted Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh as telling "Vremya novostei" that if the Russian peacekeepers are withdrawn from the conflict zone, Abkhaz troops will replace them. He warned the Georgian authorities that the situation would inevitably deteriorate as a result.

Eastern Europe

BELARUSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER HAS NO UNEASE REGARDING POSSIBILITY OF UKRAINE JOINING NATO...
Defense Minister Leanid Maltsau said on 2 November that Belarus "feels easy" regarding Ukraine's efforts to join NATO, Belapan reported. "There will be no sharp movements on our part," he said, adding that the Belarusian government correctly forecast in 2001 the possible consequences of the accession of its Baltic neighbors to NATO, and adjusted its military reform and development plans accordingly. Maltsau also said that Belarus, owing to its involvement the Partnership for Peace program and its partnership program with NATO, is ready to reach "a new level of relations" with the alliance, but he excluded the possibility of joining NATO itself.

...GIVES ASSURANCES THAT BELARUS WILL BE PEACEFUL NEIGHBOR...
Defense Minister Maltsau on 2 November characterized as strange Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus' recent statement that Belarus might attack toward Lithuania, Belapan reported. "Probably, [the statement] came from complete ignorance of the current situation," Maltsau said. He said Belarus has never done anything that would provide grounds for suspecting it would not uphold its international commitments. He noted that Belarus is a party to a number of European security treaties and has an interstate agreement with Lithuania on confidence-building measures. According to Maltsau, Belarus reduced its armed forces in recent years from 83,000 to 50,000, and the government's priority in military reform is air and territorial defense and is no way aimed at offensive actions.

...AND EXCLUDES THE FORMATION OF BELARUSIAN-RUSSIAN ARMED FORCES
Defense Minister Maltsau said on 2 November that the formation of common Belarusian-Russian armed forces is out of the question as long as there are no legal grounds for it, Belapan reported. "It is politicians who set boundaries" for the military cooperation between Belarus and Russia, Maltsau said, adding that this cooperation is currently based on more than 30 international accords. Belarus and Russia have agreements on defense cooperation and in the training of military personnel -- 100 officers and 235 cadets study at 19 Russian military schools, Maltsau noted. The two countries have formed a joint Regional Group of Forces, which will take part in military exercises in Belarus next summer, he announced.

Southwestern Asia And The Middle East

NETHERLANDS TO INCREASE ITS MILITARY PRESENCE IN AFGHANISTAN
The number of Dutch forces in Afghanistan is to increase from the current 950 to 1,300, National Television of Afghanistan reported on 2 November. The announcement came during a meeting in Kabul on 2 November between Dutch Defense Minister Henk Kamp and Afghan First Deputy Defense Minister Mohammad Yusof Nurestani. The majority of Dutch troops, under NATO command, are to be stationed in the restive southern Afghan province of Oruzgan and in some parts of Kandahar. Nurestani pledged that Afghanistan will also dispatch a number of forces to the same areas where the Dutch forces will be responsible for maintaining security. Kamp and Nurestani also signed an agreement regulating the fate of prisoners of war captured by Dutch forces.

IRAQI DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS NEW SECURITY OPERATIONS COMING...
Sa'dun al-Dulaymi told reporters at a 2 November press briefing in Baghdad that new security operations will begin after the three-day Eid Al-Fitr holiday to purge Iraqi towns and villages of terrorists, Al-Sharqiyah television reported the same day. Al-Dulaymi said all citizens who shelter terrorists in their homes will suffer the same fate as the terrorists. "This is an announcement and a warning at the same time to all those harboring terrorists in their houses that they must drive them out, or else we will demolish their houses over them, their children, and the terrorists sheltered inside. Those who do not drive terrorists out of their houses [now] will have the same fate of those people you see on television every day," al-Dulaymi said, referring to previous operations that leveled the homes where terrorists were based. He praised the residents of Samarra and Al-Mahmudiyah for heeding earlier Defense Ministry warnings not to harbor terrorists, saying the residents played an "honorable role." "As for other parties...we tell them that as long as they behave in this manner, we have no other choice but to come and liberate them from the terrorists and the illusions that they believe in."

11-03-2005, 10:19	#2
Airbornelawyer Moderator Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,954	From the RFE/RL Newsline: Russia CHECHEN LEADER THREATENS TO BROADEN HOSTILITIES... In an address to the Chechen people on the occasion of the end of Ramadan, which was posted on chechenpress.org on 3 November, Chechen President and resistance leader Abdul-Khalim Sadullaev said that Russia's policy of "terror" is impelling all the peoples of the North Caucasus to rise up against it. He noted the resistance has launched "large-scale" military operations not only in Chechnya but in Daghestan, Ingushetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria, and he warned that "in future, with the help of almighty Allah, we shall stage [such attacks] in other locations as well." He did not elaborate. ...AND RULES OUT NEW PEACE PROPOSALS In the same 3 November address to the Chechen people, Sadullaev recalled that his predecessor as president, Aslan Maskhadov, repeatedly proposed beginning peace talks with Russia, and he claimed that Maskhadov was "lured" into such talks and then killed. He said the Chechen side will not propose further peace talks, but continue fighting "until the Caucasus is freed from the boot of the Russian occupiers." Testifying before the Chechen Supreme Court on 18 October, Vakhit Murdashev, who was with Maskhadov when he was killed during an attack on his hideout in the village of Tolstoi-Yurt on 8 March, similarly said that Maskhadov was preparing for peace talks with Moscow, "Izvestiya" reported on 25 October. Murdashev said Maskhadov had named him as his envoy for those talks. Transcaucasia And Central Asia UN 'DOES NOT PLAN' TO EXPAND ABKHAZ MISSION The UN Security Council is not currently considering changing the format of the UN mission in Abkhazia, ITAR-TASS quoted Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representatives for the Abkhaz conflict, as telling journalists in Tbilisi on 2 November. She said the members of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) "cooperate constructively" with the Russian peacekeeping force deployed in the Abkhaz conflict zone, and that the UN will not become involved in the ongoing discussion -- triggered by a Georgian parliament resolution of 11 October -- on their withdrawal. Georgian Ambassador to the UN Revaz Adamia reportedly wrote last month to the UN Security Council requesting a full-fledged UN peacekeeping mission for Abkhazia, where UNOMIG currently has 121 military observers. Meanwhile, regnum.ru on 2 November quoted Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh as telling "Vremya novostei" that if the Russian peacekeepers are withdrawn from the conflict zone, Abkhaz troops will replace them. He warned the Georgian authorities that the situation would inevitably deteriorate as a result. Eastern Europe BELARUSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER HAS NO UNEASE REGARDING POSSIBILITY OF UKRAINE JOINING NATO... Defense Minister Leanid Maltsau said on 2 November that Belarus "feels easy" regarding Ukraine's efforts to join NATO, Belapan reported. "There will be no sharp movements on our part," he said, adding that the Belarusian government correctly forecast in 2001 the possible consequences of the accession of its Baltic neighbors to NATO, and adjusted its military reform and development plans accordingly. Maltsau also said that Belarus, owing to its involvement the Partnership for Peace program and its partnership program with NATO, is ready to reach "a new level of relations" with the alliance, but he excluded the possibility of joining NATO itself. ...GIVES ASSURANCES THAT BELARUS WILL BE PEACEFUL NEIGHBOR... Defense Minister Maltsau on 2 November characterized as strange Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus' recent statement that Belarus might attack toward Lithuania, Belapan reported. "Probably, [the statement] came from complete ignorance of the current situation," Maltsau said. He said Belarus has never done anything that would provide grounds for suspecting it would not uphold its international commitments. He noted that Belarus is a party to a number of European security treaties and has an interstate agreement with Lithuania on confidence-building measures. According to Maltsau, Belarus reduced its armed forces in recent years from 83,000 to 50,000, and the government's priority in military reform is air and territorial defense and is no way aimed at offensive actions. ...AND EXCLUDES THE FORMATION OF BELARUSIAN-RUSSIAN ARMED FORCES Defense Minister Maltsau said on 2 November that the formation of common Belarusian-Russian armed forces is out of the question as long as there are no legal grounds for it, Belapan reported. "It is politicians who set boundaries" for the military cooperation between Belarus and Russia, Maltsau said, adding that this cooperation is currently based on more than 30 international accords. Belarus and Russia have agreements on defense cooperation and in the training of military personnel -- 100 officers and 235 cadets study at 19 Russian military schools, Maltsau noted. The two countries have formed a joint Regional Group of Forces, which will take part in military exercises in Belarus next summer, he announced. Southwestern Asia And The Middle East NETHERLANDS TO INCREASE ITS MILITARY PRESENCE IN AFGHANISTAN The number of Dutch forces in Afghanistan is to increase from the current 950 to 1,300, National Television of Afghanistan reported on 2 November. The announcement came during a meeting in Kabul on 2 November between Dutch Defense Minister Henk Kamp and Afghan First Deputy Defense Minister Mohammad Yusof Nurestani. The majority of Dutch troops, under NATO command, are to be stationed in the restive southern Afghan province of Oruzgan and in some parts of Kandahar. Nurestani pledged that Afghanistan will also dispatch a number of forces to the same areas where the Dutch forces will be responsible for maintaining security. Kamp and Nurestani also signed an agreement regulating the fate of prisoners of war captured by Dutch forces. IRAQI DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS NEW SECURITY OPERATIONS COMING... Sa'dun al-Dulaymi told reporters at a 2 November press briefing in Baghdad that new security operations will begin after the three-day Eid Al-Fitr holiday to purge Iraqi towns and villages of terrorists, Al-Sharqiyah television reported the same day. Al-Dulaymi said all citizens who shelter terrorists in their homes will suffer the same fate as the terrorists. "This is an announcement and a warning at the same time to all those harboring terrorists in their houses that they must drive them out, or else we will demolish their houses over them, their children, and the terrorists sheltered inside. Those who do not drive terrorists out of their houses [now] will have the same fate of those people you see on television every day," al-Dulaymi said, referring to previous operations that leveled the homes where terrorists were based. He praised the residents of Samarra and Al-Mahmudiyah for heeding earlier Defense Ministry warnings not to harbor terrorists, saying the residents played an "honorable role." "As for other parties...we tell them that as long as they behave in this manner, we have no other choice but to come and liberate them from the terrorists and the illusions that they believe in."
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