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Posted 11:36 AM by The Moderator

REGIONAL RAPID DEPLOYMENT FORCES CRUCIAL TO UN PEACEKEEPING - ANNAN
New York, Feb 27 2004 6:00PM
With regional military forces being strengthened for rapid deployment, the United Nations can now deploy multinational peacekeeping troops as part of a series of steps reinforcing strategic partnerships, especially in Africa, Secretary-General Kofi Annan says.

The focus of cooperation with regional organizations "has been both on seeking direct support to the United Nations by deploying before, alongside, or after a United Nations operation, as well as on the long-term enhancement of the capacity for peacekeeping of regional and sub-regional organizations, particularly in Africa," he tells the General Assembly in a new report.

In Côte d'Ivoire, forces fielded by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) established the peace, reinforced by a greater number of French "Licorne" rapid reaction peacekeeping forces, until the Security Council authorized a UN operation. In Liberia, too, ECOWAS forces imposed the peace and were then "re-hatted" with the blue helmets of UN peacekeepers.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a European Union-led force deployed in Bunia and reduced ethnic fighting there, while the UN mission, MONUC, was restructured to address wider security needs.

Elsewhere, UN peacekeepers cooperate with forces from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Organisation for Security and Cooperation (OSCE), the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and the Australian-led International Force in East Timor (INTERFET), the report notes.
2004-02-27 00:00:00.000

Posted 7:28 PM by The Moderator

:: Xinhuanet - English ::: "British gov't under fresh pressure over legality of Iraq war
www.chinaview.cn 2004-02-28 22:59:57
LONDON, Feb. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- The British government came under renewed pressure Saturday to disclose the legal advice its senior lawyers gave to justify the war with Iraq.
Greenpeace, an environmental group, demanded on Saturday that Attorney General Lord Goldsmith's advice be seen in court in the case of 14 protesters facing charges after chaining themselves to tanks at Marchwood Docks, southern England, in an anti-war demonstration in February, 2003.
Lord Goldsmith issued the public version of his advice on March17 last year which said that, based on three UN resolutions, the use of force against Iraq was legal.
However, a dispute has arisen over the private advice Lord Goldsmith gave the government a month before. Greenpeace claims the advice said the war was illegal. "

Posted 8:54 PM by The Moderator

UN Wire: An Independent News Briefing About the UN: "U.S. Refuses To Sign Land-Mine Treaty

Friday, February 27, 2004
Although the U.S. plans to stop using non-self-destructing land mines, the Bush adminstration will not sign an anti-land mine treaty, an administration official said yesterday.

One hundred fifty countries have already signed the Mine Ban Treaty, which outlaws the stockpile of mines and requires each country to destroy its remaining mines within four years. Land mines buried in civilian areas maim and kill people in Cambodia, Afghanistan, and other countries. "

Posted 8:19 AM by The Moderator

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Oxfam accuses UK of hidden arms trade: "Oxfam accuses UK of hidden arms trade

Richard Norton-Taylor
Wednesday February 25, 2004 The Guardian

Arms companies and the government are evading export controls by supplying countries with components rather than complete weapons systems whose sale would be banned, according to a report published today by leading aid and human rights groups.
They accuse the government of double standards by exploiting loopholes enabling it to get round international embargoes and its own human rights guidelines.
There has been an eleven-fold increase in the number of weapons components licensed for export in recent years, says the report by Oxfam, Amnesty International, and the International Action Network on Small Arms. "

Posted 3:52 PM by The Moderator

U.S. Plan to Transfer Power In Iraq May Shift Drastically

The U.S. plan to hand over power in Iraq is increasingly likely to undergo major changes rather than merely "refinements," because of increasing skepticism about the June 30 deadline for creating a provisional government and erosion of support for the proposal to use caucuses to select it, according to senior U.S. and U.N. officials...
The Bush administration's decision to grant the United Nations the authority to negotiate the terms of Iraq's political transition marks the third time in a year that it has been forced to redraw the map for Iraq's political future.