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| Updated: 08-Dec-2005 | NATO Speeches |
| NATO HQ
8 Dec . 2005 |
News conference by
NATO Secretary General, Jaap De Hoop Scheffer
James Appathurai (NATO Spokesman): Gentlemen, let me please first apologize for the late arrival. The meeting went late. The Secretary General will make an opening statement and then we'll have time for a few questions. Thank you. Jaap De Hoop Scheffer (Secretary General of NATO): Thank you, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Let me go by the meetings in the order they were taken. Yesterday evening, hosted by Belgium Foreign Minister De Gucht we had a Transatlantic dinner--NATO ministers, EU Foreign Ministers--and as you might have heard there was a very good discussion on a question which has been in discussion very much over the past weeks. The questions around detention and flights and what have you. I think it was a good discussion. I think it cleared the air. I think Secretary Rice made a strong intervention, and it was in the framework of the Political Dialogue, the Transatlantic Political Dialogue. We also value, I think, quite logic and natural that this subject was discussed at the dinner yesterday. Also yesterday evening, as you will have heard, we discussed at length the situation in the Balkans. I made a few remarks on Afghanistan, but I'll come back to that subject as far as our meetings are today are concerned. It is good to tell you that this morning, over a working breakfast, NATO ministers had a broad-ranging and frank discussion, informal discussion at the security situation in the broader Middle East. Secretary Rice kicked off a discussion followed by French Minister Douste-Blazy, Minister Gül and many others. And there was a frank exchange of views on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Syria, Lebanon, Iran. It was a good discussion. Also, I think, underpinning NATO's outreach in the region in the framework of the Mediterranean Dialogue and the so-called Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. It is not a discussion to give NATO, of course, a direct role in the peace process, or a direct role in what's happening in the talks between the EU-3 supported by the United States. But it is important that we have this political Transatlantic debate. That's what this Alliance is for and I think the discussion was an interesting and a good one. As we had, as you know, with the Foreign Ministers in the spring of this year in Vilnius in Lithuania. Then we moved to another room and ministers turned their attention to the political aspects of NATO's operations. First and foremost, they endorsed the operational plan, the revised operational plan, I should say, that will guide a major expansion of the NATO-led peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan. When it takes place, on the basis of this operational plan, which ministers endorsed today, next year, NATO then will be operating in three-quarters of the territory of Afghanistan. We'll have several thousand more forces, more troops under NATO command, and as you know, NATO will move into the south of the country and the number of the NATO-led Provincial Reconstruction Teams will rise to at least 13. So we have seen this gradual expansion starting in the north, going to the west to Herat and now going to the south to Kandahar and surrounding provinces. Of course, this expansion will take NATO into more volatile territory, but there should be no doubt, one, our forces will have the equipment and the support they need to do the job. They will have the rules of engagement--my second point--they will have the rules of engagement. They need to carry out their mission. And they will do something very important indeed. They'll bring peace to more people in Afghanistan who have suffered terribly, and they will help ensure that terrorism cannot take hold once again of this country and use it as a base from which to threaten the world, as it was under the rule of the Taliban. What ministers also did was they agreed on an offer to Afghanistan of a new long-term cooperation program which will concentrate on areas agreed by NATO and Afghanistan such as, for instance, defence reform. And you'll know that next month, at the end of January, at the London conference, we will confirm our long-term contribution to Afghanistan's future. But, as I said yesterday at this Transatlantic dinner, I can repeat publicly here today, NATO can only play a part. NATO cannot do it all by itself. The United Nations, the European Union, the G8, the major donor countries, will have to do it together. So what Afghanistan needs now, under, of course, full Afghan ownership, there is an elected president, there is an elected parliament, Afghanistan needs the commitment of the entire international community. Ministers discussed Iraq and they agreed that NATO's training mission for Iraqi officers will expand to include a so-called basic officers course and a leadership course for non-commissioned officers. They addressed this morning in the NATO Framework, again, developments in the Balkans and how to support the recent positive trends there, and it goes without saying, as has been said before, that NATO fully supports President Ahtisaari's mission to guide the status talks on Kosovo. And let me also repeat what I said before, that any party that might try to use violence to affect the political process will need a stiff response from KFOR, because the 17,000-strong KFOR force will stay, of course, in Kosovo to create a climate of security and stability in which the political process can take place. It is clear that Euro-Atlantic integration remains the prime tool at our disposal to foster stability and developments to the Balkans and it is a powerful reform incentive. And this is why NATO's door remains open for new members and let me briefly refer here to the three nations on the Balkans which have the Membership Action Plan. Ministers took stock of our mission to help the people of Pakistan after October's terrible earthquake. NATO, in the meantime, has lifted over 2600 tonnes of relief, making the Alliance the biggest single contributor of airlift to the relief effort. NATO doctors are treating hundreds of injured per day and NATO engineers are clearing roads and building schools. The mission will come to an end on schedule; that is, at the end of January, beginning of February next year. And our personnel will come home, though a lot of equipment, including hospitals, will be donated to the Pakistanis. Let me stress that NATO, of course, does not aspire to be a humanitarian relief organization, as I said in my public remarks at the beginning of our meeting this morning, but we are happy that we could do our part this time in answering positively a request made by the Pakistani authorities. Ministers discussed the deteriorating security situation in Darfur. Javier Solana, who was present, of course, as usual, told us about Abuja, the political process. You know the NATO has supported and is supporting the African Union by lifting in seven battalions now in total of African troops and police as well. And we know that the African Union is doing its very best on an important mission, and the African Union has our full support in this respect. Finally, let me mention the discussion this morning, the beginning of a discussion, I should say, this morning, of events that will guide much of our work for the coming years. Ministers agreed, as you have seen, to hold a summit meeting at the end of next year, 2006, which will generously be hosted by the Latvian government in Riga and they also look forward to another summit, which will be held in the spring of 2008. This, ladies and gentlemen, was the essence of this morning's discussion. As you know, we're going to move to the EAPC meeting with our partners, over lunch, to discuss the operations and missions, because our partners make a very critical contribution to our operations and missions. And we'll also discuss a subject which has been qualified as values in partnership because it's good, I think, to reaffirm the values that our partnership must work to defend. You will notice, or have noticed that at this luncheon representatives from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia-Montenegro, will be present as observers. By inviting them NATO demonstrates that we share their goal to become full members of the Partnership for Peace, recognized the efforts they have made. But they also know, you do know, and I do know, that we must have full cooperation with the International Tribunal, the ITCY in The Hague, before they can become members of the Partnership for Peace. I just heard, by the way, like you, the good news in the wire stories that General Gotovina, and I'm talking about Croatia, has been arrested and you know that Karadzic and Mladic, the other two, not the only two, should be in The Hague and not at large. This is what we have done up till now. We're going into the NATO-Russia Council and the NATO-Ukraine Commission, as you know, later this afternoon. I'm happy and satisfied with the way these meetings went. After all, if we discuss the Middle East we do that on the basis of our important initiatives, strengthening the Mediterranean Dialogue and our outreach into the Gulf Region in the framework of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. Underpinning those initiatives it is important that we have this political dialogue, and you know that I've been a great supporter of this political dialogue from the very moment I took office. And I think these meetings do see a good example of this political dialogue. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. I'm open for your questions. Appathurai: I think the first one is here, and then there. Q: Secretary General, Dan Dombey of the Financial Times. Given that Secretary Rice has, as you said, cleared the air about the detainee issue, do you think this debate has any further to go, and more specifically, do you think that that now clears the way for Dutch parliamentary approval of dispatching troops to the south of Afghanistan? Do you expect that to proceed? And how important a step is that? De Hoop Scheffer: Thank you. Let me start by saying that the the discussion we've seen over the past week is, of course, in itself not a NATO issue. Let me reconfirm, which is not new, that NATO has its detention policy in Kosovo, in Afghanistan, where NATO has its operation and missions. But that goes without saying. That is an established fact. I gave you, as my personal analysis, attending the dinner yesterday, as NATO Secretary General, that I think we had a good discussion and that it is and was my impression that Secretary Rice, in her intervention, cleared the air, was in good form, if I may use that expression, and made an important contribution to that dinner. As such, you will not see this discussion continue in the NATO framework, because I say again, it is not a NATO issue as such. We have our own detention policy. About Afghanistan and the Dutch participation, it goes without saying that after all the important work which has been done in this NATO building and elsewhere I preparing for ISAF expansion, it is my strong hope that all the potential contributors to this expansion will indeed participate. I also know, perhaps better than anybody that Dutch participation awaits a cabinet decision and a parliamentary decision because the Parliament in the Netherlands, as you and I know, plays the decisive role in the process of participating in such a mission. If you ask me, do you hope that the Dutch will participate? my answer is clearly, of course I do, because I think this expansion is very important indeed, and we need as many allies as we can get. Q: (inaudible)... from the Arab Television MBC. Secretary General, can I ask you, since 2004 there is quite enough public diplomacy, seminars, contacts with the Arab Gulf countries. Can you tell me, what is the added value that NATO can bring to these countries who have a lot of security agreements with the United States, Britain, France, etc. and if you can tell me a few words about the initiative you launched with the Palestinian Authority? Do you assure(?), for example, the Israeli side about your initiative towards the Palestinian Authority? Thank you. De Hoop Scheffer: Well, about your first question, and thank you for it. If you ask about added value, my answer to me would be, as I've given to you before, that based on my travel and my travelling through the region, Mediterranean Dialogue partners, and now last week for the first time to the Gulf and visiting Qatar, has been that the nations themselves, the countries themselves, have given me a very positive impression about the added value NATO can bring. I say again, NATO comes to the region complementary to activities, and not duplicating activities by other organizations, like for instance the European Union, but NATO has added value to bring on the basis of a menu, which of course stays within NATO's reign of competence. Two examples, in military to military cooperation--three examples--cooperation in the sphere of civil emergency and last, but not least, the interest in some nations in Operational Active Endeavour, NATO's military operation in the Mediterranean. And the answers and reactions in the region have been very positive. Nations are ambitious and the first reaction I got during my first trip to Qatar last week was also very positive indeed. So I think the discussion about the Middle East underpins those initiatives. As far as the Palestinian Authority is concerned, you do know that we have had what I would call explorative... that's English, I don't know... Appathurai: Exploratory. De Hoop Scheffer: Exploratory, thank you James. Exploratory contacts with the Palestinian Authority on the basis of sharing information and we agreed that we'll build further on these contacts in the... in a prudent way and in the exploratory sphere. Q: Laurent Zecchini, Le Monde. Monsieur le Secrétaire Général, quel est votre sentiment sur la convention de Genève? Est-ce que vous avez le sentiment qu'elle doit s'appliquer à tous les prisonniers, fussent-ils des prisonniers de guerre ou pas, fussent-ils terroristes ou pas? Et si d'aventure votre réponse est affirmative, est-ce qu'il serait du devoir du Secrétaire Général de rappeler à l'un des pays de l'Alliance qui n'observerait pas cette règle qu'elle est la position de l'Alliance. De Hoop Scheffer: Je peux vous dire, comme j'ai dit en anglais déjà, je peux vous dire que je parle pour l'OTAN comme Secrétaire Général de l'OTAN. La politique de l'OTAN concernant cette sorte de sujets, c'est bien sûr au Kosovo et en Afghanistan, garantit que tous les gens qui sont arrêtés par les forces de l'OTAN bien sûr ont les garanties vis-à-vis les conventions de Genève. Ça va sans dire, vous avez aussi que la politique de l'OTAN assure que les représentants de la Croix Rouge ont l'admission aux personnes dès le premier moment. Alors, il est absolument clair que la politique de l'OTAN respecte et garantit les conventions de Genève. Appathurai: Two quick questions. There and there. Q: Thank you. Augustin Palokaj from Koha Ditore. Since you said that ministers discussed Kosovo, can you tell us, did you finally resolve the technicalities in which way will NATO be engaged in negotiations? Are you going to appoint your representative or what? And after the news that Mr. Gotovina is arrested, will this speed up Croatian integration in NATO, since this was the biggest obstacle till now? De Hoop Scheffer: It is, I think, the arrest of Gotovina, is good news for the world, is good news for bringing people to justice, who are not yet convicted, but who are accused of very serious crimes, the most serious crimes. That's good news, and I think indeed it's also good news for... it's also good news for Croatia. On your first point, ministers did not discuss technicalities. They discussed the political situation in Balkans, of course, in a period where the status talks for Kosovo under President Ahtisaari's leadership have started, and as I think I was in the position already to tell you before, NATO participates politically by being present in the extended contact group. And as I told you, Mr. Ahtisaari, President Ahtisaari decides the what exactly will be NATO representation on his team and the how and the where and the when. I leave that in the hands of Mr. Ahtisaari because he's the leader and he should decide. But NATO, you can rest assured that NATO will be, during the process in very close touch with the process. Appathurai: I'm told that's all the time we have. De Hoop Scheffer: If you're told that's all the time I have, that's the time I have. Thank you very much. We'll meet again.
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