Dutchman takes NATO helm at "crucial" time for alliance

Yahoo News ^ | January 05 2004 | AFP

[knighthawk]

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Former Dutch foreign minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer took over as NATO head pledging to act with "vigour" at a crucial time for the alliance, as it faces key challenges in Afghanistan and possibly Iraq.

Keeping US-Europe relations on an even keel will be a key priority, he said Monday, while adding that bolstering a NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan must be the alliance's "primary focus" for the moment.

"There will be no lack of challenges.." said De Hoop Scheffer as he arrived for his first day of work at the alliance's Brussels headquarters adding that he was "taking the NATO helm at a crucial time in its existence."

"There's work in progress which I will pursue with great vigour," he added.

De Hoop Scheffer, who succeeds straight-talking Scotsman George Robertson as secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), is the third Dutchman to lead the alliance during its 55-year history.

As he starts his four-year term, the Dutchman will need all his diplomatic skills to continue the process of healing deep diplomatic wounds sparked by last year's Iraq war, which plunged NATO into its deepest crisis ever.

"Relations between the European Union and the United States will be one of my prime targets," he said, adding that one of his biggest challenges was "building bridges accross the Atlantic Ocean."

But keeping transatlantic ties warm is far from the only challenge for NATO, the West's former Cold War fighting bloc which is battling to transform itself into a relevant force in the post September 11 world.

A key mission is in Afghanistan, where last year NATO took charge of a mission beyond Europe for the first time in its history, at the helm of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

The alliance, which depends on its member states for military hardware, has struggled to drum up the resources needed for the mission -- a problem made more acute by a decision to expand ISAF beyond Kabul this year.

"The primary focus at the moment should be on Afghanistan. The alliance should pursue what was set in motion," said De Hoop Scheffer.

Filling the resources shortfall is not helped by the fact that so many NATO member countries are already involved in Iraq.

And Iraq will likely test de Hoop Scheffer's diplomatic skills to the full.

Last February, NATO was plunged into what one senior diplomat called a "near-death experience" when three of its members opposed to the Iraq war -- France, Germany and Belgium -- refused to approve alliance help for Turkey.

NATO officials say that the deep wounds from that conflict have healed, pointing notably to the alliance's decision to help Poland establish its command of a US-led multi-national force in Iraq.

But Washington has made it clear that it would welcome a greater NATO role.

NATO officials say no immediate decisions are expected. But pressure for action may increase at a NATO summit in Istanbul at the end of June -- coincidentally at about the time Iraqis are due to regain their sovereignty.

De Hoop Scheffer declined Monday to be drawn on whether NATO will take a wider role in Iraq. "It is not to be excluded of course ... of course that will depend on the political developments as they take place and shape," he said.

"Iraq will also be on the agenda at a certain stage but let's take the events steps by step," he said.

The Istanbul summit will notably welcome seven new countries to the 19-member bloc: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania, which won the entry green light at NATO's last summit in 2002.

[knighthawk]

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