NATO Secretary General LordRobertson visited Skopje, the formerYugoslav Republic of Macedonia,* on26 March and met with PresidentBoris Trajkovski and leaders of thecountry’s political parties. LordRobertson reaffirmed support for thegovernment in its struggle with ethnicAlbanian rebels, but also urgedrestraint and appealed to the insur-gents to lay down their arms.

Lord Robertson set out NATO’s prior-ities in southeastern Europe in thekeynote speech of a conferenceexamining security challenges insoutheastern Europe and regionalperspectives in Rome, Italy, on 26March.

Lord Robertson unveiled a packageof measures on 21 March designed toenhance stability in the southernBalkans and demonstrate support forthe multi-ethnic government of theformer Yugoslav Republic ofMacedonia.*

President of the InternationalCommittee of the Red Cross JakobKellenberger met with LordRobertson at NATO on 21 March andaddressed the Euro-AtlanticPartnership Council.

Bosnia briefing

High Representative WolfgangPetritsch met Lord Robertson atNATO on 19 March and briefed ameeting of SFOR troop-contributingnations on the situation in Bosnia andHerzegovina (Bosnia).

On 14 March, Yugoslav troopsentered entered the Ground Safety

Zone, a five-kilometre strip of south-ern Serbia bordering Kosovo, for thefirst time since the Yugoslav Army’swithdrawal from Kosovo in June1999.

Lord Robertson visited Athens,Greece, on 16 March, meetingPresident ConstantinosStephanopoulos and Prime MinisterCostas Simitis, as well as the Greekforeign and defence ministers.

The situation in and around Kosovodominated talks between the NorthAtlantic Council and the EU Politicaland Security Committee in Brusselson 14 March.

Submarine rescue and medicalexperts from 13 NATO countries par-ticipated in Phoenix 2001, an exer-cise to rehearse procedures for deal-ing with submarines in distress, heldat the NATO headquarters atNorthwood, England, from 13 to 15March.

NATO mediators brokered a cease-fire between the Federal Republic ofYugoslavia and ethnic Albanians insouthern Serbia on 12 March.

US tripLord Robertson visited the UnitedStates from 6 to 10 March. He metUN Secretary-General Kofi Annanand attended an informal meeting ofthe UN Security Council before meet-ing US President George W. Bushand top officials in the new adminis-tration, as well as several senatorsand congressmen. He also addresseda symposium organised by theAmerican Enterprise Institute onCapitol Hill.

On 8 March, Lord Robertsonannounced measures to restore sta-bility in southern Serbia and the for-mer Yugoslav Republic ofMacedonia* and prevent ethnicAlbanian extremists abusing theGround Safety Zone.

NATO and Russian parliamentariansmet at NATO on 5 and 6 March to dis-cuss political, military, scientific andenvironmental cooperation and theneed to reinforce dialogue.

Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanovdiscussed concerns over increasing

violence in the neighbouring formerYugoslav Republic of Macedonia*with NATO Ambassadors on 5 Marchat NATO.

Exercise Cooperative Osprey 2001took place at Canada’s PearsonPeacekeeping Centre in Halifax, NovaScotia, involving six NATO and 13Partner countries from 1 to 9 March.

Newly appointed UN SpecialRepresentative Hans Haekkerup, theformer Danish defence minister, visit-ed NATO on 28 February to briefNATO Ambassadors on the situationin and around Kosovo.

Powell visit

US Secretary of State Colin Powellmet Lord Robertson and Allied for-eign ministers during a visit to NATOon 27 February. Secretary Powellstressed the new administration’ssupport for the development of aEuropean Security and DefenceIdentity and its commitment to con-sult Allies on plans for a NationalMissile Defense.

EU, OSCE, NATO, UN and UNHCRofficials met at NATO for the first timeon 27 February to discuss how toaddress the problems of increasingviolence along Kosovo’s boundaries.

Lord Robertson met PresidentVáclav Havel, Prime Minister MilosZeman, and the Czech foreign anddefence ministers on 21 and 22February in Prague, the CzechRepublic.

New command arrangementsIn line with new command arrange-ments unveiled last year, Allied

Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH),a regional headquarters based inNaples, Italy, took over day-to-daycommand of the Stabilisation Force(SFOR) from Supreme AlliedHeadquarters Europe (SHAPE) on 20February. The command of theKosovo Force (KFOR) transferred toAFSOUTH on 18 January.

Moscow office

Lord Robertson inaugurated theNATO Information Office in Moscowon 20 February, a visible sign ofimproving relations with Russia.

NATO parliamentarians discussedNATO’s current agenda with the North Atlantic Council on 19February.

New Hungarian ambassadorAmbassador János Herman suc-ceeded Ambassador Andras Simonyias permanent representative ofHungary to the North Atlantic Councilon 19 February. A career diplomat,Ambassador Herman, 48, was for-merly deputy state secretary for mul-tilateral affairs.

More than 1,500 people from sevenNATO nations trained in a disasterrelief exercise, Relieve Discomfort2001, on the Caribbean island ofCuraçao from 18 to 22 February.

Twelve NATO countries participatedin the world’s largest annual anti-sub-marine warfare exercise, Dogfish2001, which took place in the IonianSea east of Sicily, Italy from 15 to 28February.

NATO review4 Spring 2001

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Serbian Deputy Prime MinisterNebojsa Covic and Yugoslav ForeignMinister Goran Svilanovic met LordRobertson and NATO Ambassadorson 15 February at NATO to discussproposals to resolve tensions insouthern Serbia.

NATO’s annual crisis managementexercise, CMX 2001, took place from15 to 19 February at NATO, involvingPartner countries for the first time.

Implementation of the treaty onConventional Armed Forces inEurope was discussed by its 30 signatory countries at the NATO Verification CoordinatingCommittee’s annual seminar from14 to 16 February at NATO.

Newly appointed UN HighCommissioner for Refugees RuudLubbers met Lord Robertson atNATO on 6 February.

The first meeting of the EU Politicaland Security Committee and theNorth Atlantic Council under newpermanent EU-NATO consultationarrangements took place on 5February in Brussels, Belgium.

Lord Robertson outlined key itemson NATO’s agenda at the annualInternational Security PolicyConference held in Munich,Germany, from 2 to 3 February,where he also met new US Secretaryof Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Lord Robertson met Prime MinisterJens Stoltenberg and Norwegianforeign and defence ministers on 1 and 2 February in Oslo , Norway.

On 2 February, NATO’s highest mili-tary authority, the MilitaryCommittee, visited Northwood,England, the headquarters of boththe regional Allied East Atlanticcommand (EASTLANT) and theAllied Naval Forces North(NAVNORTH).

Lithuanian Prime Minister RolandasPaksas met Lord Robertson at NATOon 31 January to discuss relationswith Russia, peacekeeping in theBalkans and Lithuania’s preparationsfor NATO membership.

Kouchner Farewell

Marking the end of 18 months inoffice, former UN SpecialRepresentative to Kosovo BernardKouchner addressed the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council andrepresentatives of other KFOR con-tributing countries on 30 January atNATO.

Lord Robertson met German DefenceMinister Rudolf Scharping on 25January in Berlin, Germany, where healso delivered this year’s ManfredWörner Memorial Lecture.

Romanian Prime Minister AdrianNastase met Lord Robertson atNATO on 24 January to discussRomania’s preparations for NATOmembership and its contribution toKFOR and SFOR.

Mongolian Prime Minister NambarynEnkhbayar met Lord Robertson atNATO on 22 January.

Depleted uraniumSet up in the wake of public concernabout possible environmental healthrisks associated with the use ofdepleted uranium, the Committee onDepleted Uranium, made up ofNATO officials and representatives ofpast and present SFOR and KFORcontributing nations, met for thefirst time on 16 January to discussmedical and scientific evidence.NATO’s senior medical advisorybody, the Committee of the Chiefsof Military Medical Services metthe day before to exchange informa-tion on the issue.

Lord Robertson visited Armenia,Azerbaijan and Turkmenistanbetween 15 and 18 January, meetingheads of state and foreign anddefence ministers.

On 11 January, Lord Robertson visit-ed Sweden, which currently holds theEU presidency, for talks with ForeignMinister Anna Lindh and DefenceMinister Björn von Sydow aboutestablishing robust EU-NATO links incrisis management.

First Yugoslav visit

The first Yugoslav minister to visitNATO since the ouster of formerYugoslav President SlobodanMilosevic, Foreign Minister GoranSvilanovic, met Lord Robertson andNATO Ambassadors on 10 January.

New UK ambassadorAmbassador David Manning succeed-ed Ambassador Sir John Goulden aspermanent representative of theUnited Kingdom to the North AtlanticCouncil on 8 January. A career diplo-mat, Ambassador Manning, 51, wasformerly deputy under-secretary ofstate at the Foreign andCommonwealth Office between 1998and 2000. Before that, he was UKambassador to Israel (1995-1998).

On the fifth anniversary of NATO’sdeployment in Bosnia, Lord Robertsonvisited SFOR troops and met Bosniac,Croat and Serb political leaders inSarajevo, Bosnia, on 20 December.

Allied foreign ministers met inBrussels, Belgium, on 14 and 15December and tentatively agreed anapproach to permanent arrangements

between the Alliance and the EuropeanUnion but noted that practical arrange-ments still needed to be worked out.Ministers also held meetings with theircounterparts from Russia and Ukraine,and other Partner countries.

Trajkovski visit

Boris Trajkovski, President of the for-mer Yugoslav Republic ofMacedonia,* met Lord Robertson on7 December at NATO to discuss secu-rity in southeastern Europe, relationswith KFOR and preparations for pos-sible future NATO membership.

New confidence-building measuresbetween Greece and Turkey, wereannounced on 6 December, wherebyeach country will give the other advancenotification of military exercises.

Allied defence ministers met inBrussels, Belgium, on 5 and 6December and discussed, in particular,the Defence Capabilities Initiative andEU-NATO relations. Ministers alsoadopted a five-year force plan,reviewed the Allies’ national defenceplans for the period 2001-2005 andapproved new ministerial guidance forNATO and national defence planning upto 2008. Ministers also met with theircounterparts from Russia and Ukraine,and other Partner countries. UNSpecial Envoy Carl Bildt briefed minis-ters in the Euro-Atantic PartnershipCouncil on recent developments in theBalkans and the Supreme AlliedCommander, Europe, General JosephRalston, gave an update on the KFORand SFOR operations.

Spring 2001 NATO review 5

For more information see NATO Update at www.nato.int/docu/update/index.htm.

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