Posted on 09/10/2001 3:59:07 AM PDT by konijn
Monday, September 10 4:20 PM SGT
Pacific army chiefs meet to map out stategies
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 (AFP) -
Army chiefs from the United States, Japan and 15 other Pacific countries met here Monday to map out strategies for facing future challenges together.
The theme of a five-day Pacific Armies Chiefs Conference, the second in a biennial series, is "Challenges of Inter-Operability in the New Millennium".
Other army chiefs attending are from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Canada, Mongolia, Brunei, India, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Tonga and Thailand.
Malaysia's army chief General Mohamad Hashim Hussein told the opening session that increased participation in the army chiefs' conference reflected "the importance and wide-ranging role it has in the Asia-Pacific region".
While the top brass is meeting, a management seminar entitled "Peace support cooperation: the challenges ahead" is being held for senior army officers from 33 countries in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.
Chief of Staff of the United States Army General Eric K. Shinseki told delegates the seminar would focus on handling crises.
"Here we share ideas. We build bridges ... as yet unknown missions that we know our armies will conduct together in the future," he said.
Shinseki said he hoped the conference would prepare soldiers to operate effectively regardless of where they might be sent or under what command structure they would operate.
He said that in Bosnia and Kosovo it had been demonstrated that peacekeeping forces could not depend on combat skills or technology as they frequently offered little help.
Citing an example of the killing of a British soldier in Macedonia, the US army chief praised Britain for not reacting with lethal fire power.
"All our high technology, night vision devices and helicopters and radars cannot predict or prevent such fatal incidents nor can they tell us how to respond," Shinseki said.
"Overreaction (by British forces) could have unraveled the whole peace process.
"Our soldiers and our leaders must have the courage not to overreact. By using indiscriminate force we risk losing everything we have worked for. Our legitimacy as peacekeepers will diminish."
Malaysia's Mohamad Hashim said peacekeeping operations had changed from simply patrolling ceasefire zones.
"The new world security environment has brought with it a tendency for localised but devasting conflict fueled by ethnic or religious fervour which is more dangerous," he said.
Mohamad Hashim said peacekeeping operations of the classical military type had been overtaken by much larger and sophisticted operations.
Peacekeeping operations were now fused with other non-military operations including humanitarian support, elections monitoring and managing displaced people.
"A peacekeeper now has to be a mediator, surpervisor and counsellor. The question lies when he ceases to a soldier and when he reverts back as a soldier. This causes much friction to the soldier," he added.
The seminar is attended by about 100 soldiers from Australia, Bangladesh, Britain, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, China, Fiji, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Korea, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, United States, and Vanautu
VRN
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.