U.S. focus on NATO for global security
WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Sen. Joseph Biden, ranking minority member for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, echoed a call made by fellow Democrat Joseph Lieberman over the weekend for NATO to act to stop violence in Darfur.
"To retain the respect NATO acquired during military campaigns in the Balkans NATO members must not stand by and watch when atrocities are committed on their doorstep," said Biden in a statement for the committee's hearing on "NATO: from common defense to common security."
NATO has been assisting African Union troops with air lift, training and logistical support since the summer of 2005. The alliance is committed in that role until May 2006.
Biden called on NATO to do more than it is currently doing in Sudan and actively engage in increasing security and stability in the region.
"NATO could help by providing small contingents to bridge the gap between the AU's mandate and the full deployment of United Nations peacekeeping mission," said Biden. "A relatively small number of NATO troops -- to serve as advisors, to help command and control, intelligence gathering and dissemination communications and logistics -- would help the AU substantially improve the security environment in Darfur."
At the 42nd Munich Conference on Security Policy, Sen. Lieberman called on the transatlantic alliance to increase the role for NATO in Darfur.
"NATO can reverse these alarming trends by committing more training, equipment, and logistical support to the 7,000 person AU force," said Lieberman. "As AU peacekeeping is transitioned into a hopefully larger United Nations force, NATO can manage command and control and logistics and provide necessary resources to sustain this operation."
Lieberman also suggested that NATO enforce a no-fly zone over parts of Darfur to stop aggression from the air by Sudanese forces.
The call of U.S. officials for NATO action comes after the United Nations Security Council issued a presidential statement, Thursday, for peacekeeping operations in Darfur. The statement falls short of the binding action of a resolution. "If it had been a resolution calling for full intervention, they could have given the mission a mandate to protect civilians and dictated the size of the force," said Salih Booker executive director of Africa Action a Washington-based activism group, which has worked with the White House and State Department to encourage a full Security Council resolution for Darfur peacekeeping.
"The statement lacks urgency," Booker said. "If you pass a resolution you have to act on it. Right now the UN isn't obligated to change anything on the ground in Darfur."
The statement initiates contingency planning for the possibility of the absorption of AU troops into a larger U.N. peacekeeping force. But U.S. officials like Biden and Lieberman would like NATO to be part of that contingency plan. "On Darfur, NATO can -- and must -- move now," said Lieberman in Munich. "Doing so is not only a humanitarian gesture; it can have practical value for our security. From Afghanistan to Somalia, we should have learned that broken states become breeding grounds for extremism and terrorism."
Gen. James Jones, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, testified at the foreign relations committee hearing Tuesday about the importance of transforming NATO forces to respond to humanitarian missions following the example of relief efforts in Pakistan and the gulf region of the United States. Jones testified to the need to restructure U.N. funding for the NATO Response Force which responded to those crises.
"Course generation efforts for future NATO Response Force Rotations are not producing a complete and balanced force, which is a cause for concern," said Jones. "The principal reason for this problem, I believe, is that NATO has not reformed its 20th century funding mechanisms that require nations to pay all costs associated with the transport and sustainment of their deployed forces. We have yet to take into account the full impact of the 21st century expeditionary nature of NATO operations."
NATO Secretary General Japp de Hoop Scheffer also participated in the Munich security conference. He emphasized funding as the primary roadblock in the full transformation of NATO, which has been evolving into a proactive force since conflict in the Balkans in the 1990s.
"Modernizing the way we pay for things in NATO is critical, because it will make it easier to do what we need to do: project stability," said de Hoop Scheffer.
In outlining it's involvement in Sudan, NATO affirmed on it's website that for now, "No NATO troops have been or will be deployed to Darfur. The AU remains in the driving seat for solving the conflict."
"To retain the respect NATO acquired during military campaigns in the Balkans NATO members must not stand by and watch when atrocities are committed on their doorstep," said Biden in a statement for the committee's hearing on "NATO: from common defense to common security."
NATO has been assisting African Union troops with air lift, training and logistical support since the summer of 2005. The alliance is committed in that role until May 2006.
Biden called on NATO to do more than it is currently doing in Sudan and actively engage in increasing security and stability in the region.
"NATO could help by providing small contingents to bridge the gap between the AU's mandate and the full deployment of United Nations peacekeeping mission," said Biden. "A relatively small number of NATO troops -- to serve as advisors, to help command and control, intelligence gathering and dissemination communications and logistics -- would help the AU substantially improve the security environment in Darfur."
At the 42nd Munich Conference on Security Policy, Sen. Lieberman called on the transatlantic alliance to increase the role for NATO in Darfur.
"NATO can reverse these alarming trends by committing more training, equipment, and logistical support to the 7,000 person AU force," said Lieberman. "As AU peacekeeping is transitioned into a hopefully larger United Nations force, NATO can manage command and control and logistics and provide necessary resources to sustain this operation."
Lieberman also suggested that NATO enforce a no-fly zone over parts of Darfur to stop aggression from the air by Sudanese forces.
The call of U.S. officials for NATO action comes after the United Nations Security Council issued a presidential statement, Thursday, for peacekeeping operations in Darfur. The statement falls short of the binding action of a resolution. "If it had been a resolution calling for full intervention, they could have given the mission a mandate to protect civilians and dictated the size of the force," said Salih Booker executive director of Africa Action a Washington-based activism group, which has worked with the White House and State Department to encourage a full Security Council resolution for Darfur peacekeeping.
"The statement lacks urgency," Booker said. "If you pass a resolution you have to act on it. Right now the UN isn't obligated to change anything on the ground in Darfur."
The statement initiates contingency planning for the possibility of the absorption of AU troops into a larger U.N. peacekeeping force. But U.S. officials like Biden and Lieberman would like NATO to be part of that contingency plan. "On Darfur, NATO can -- and must -- move now," said Lieberman in Munich. "Doing so is not only a humanitarian gesture; it can have practical value for our security. From Afghanistan to Somalia, we should have learned that broken states become breeding grounds for extremism and terrorism."
Gen. James Jones, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, testified at the foreign relations committee hearing Tuesday about the importance of transforming NATO forces to respond to humanitarian missions following the example of relief efforts in Pakistan and the gulf region of the United States. Jones testified to the need to restructure U.N. funding for the NATO Response Force which responded to those crises.
"Course generation efforts for future NATO Response Force Rotations are not producing a complete and balanced force, which is a cause for concern," said Jones. "The principal reason for this problem, I believe, is that NATO has not reformed its 20th century funding mechanisms that require nations to pay all costs associated with the transport and sustainment of their deployed forces. We have yet to take into account the full impact of the 21st century expeditionary nature of NATO operations."
NATO Secretary General Japp de Hoop Scheffer also participated in the Munich security conference. He emphasized funding as the primary roadblock in the full transformation of NATO, which has been evolving into a proactive force since conflict in the Balkans in the 1990s.
"Modernizing the way we pay for things in NATO is critical, because it will make it easier to do what we need to do: project stability," said de Hoop Scheffer.
In outlining it's involvement in Sudan, NATO affirmed on it's website that for now, "No NATO troops have been or will be deployed to Darfur. The AU remains in the driving seat for solving the conflict."
posted by Marko at 2/08/2006 03:33:00 PM
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