NETHERLANDS: Kosovo and U.S. missile defence shield thorny issues at NATO summit

A Russian official has given a strong hint Moscow could recognise two separatist regions of Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as independent states, if Western powers recognise Kosovo's split from Serbia. Kosovo's future is again at the centre of debate between NATO allies. Defence Ministers have been meeting in the Dutch coastal resort of Noordwijk. Russian officials oppose proposals to give Kosovo independence, and have said for months it could set a precedent that would encourage separatists elsewhere, including in parts of the former Soviet Union. But Moscow has never said explicitly if it would respond to recognition of Kosovo by granting recognition to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two regions of ex-Soviet Georgia which have run their own affairs since separatist wars in the 1990s. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the atmosphere had changed from "very negative" to one where the parties are hopefully talking to each other. The United States' missile defence shield was also up for discussion at the NATO Russia Council. NATO allies agree there is a missile threat from Iran or North Korea. But they don't know how imminent that threat is. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently announced that Washington could delay activating the proposed defence sites in Poland and the Czech Republic until it can find "definitive proof" of a missile threat from Iran. French Defence Minister Herve Morin said they needed to know if the threat was short, medium or longer term. France also announced it had offered to send military trainers to the Afghan province Uruzgan adding to a 1,600-strong Dutch presence that is in the front line of the fight against Taliban insurgents. Morin said the reason France was willing to beef up its forces in Afghanistan was because Afghanistan was at a threshold. Some parts were improving whilst others were disintegrating into conflict. France believes that the only way to help Afghanistan follow the right track is for the allies to contribute more. The Netherlands hailed the French decision and the United States said it would welcome more French involvement. About 100 demonstrators held a mock-death protest outside the hotel where the NATO defence ministers were meeting. One of the protesters, Bart Griffioen, said the majority of people in the Netherlands and the United States and Canada were against the war in Afghanistan. The Netherlands faces a tough sell to explain to a sceptical public and parliament why the troops should stay in south Afghanistan, where it bears the brunt of the violence alongside Canadian and British allies.

ITN Source | October 25, 2007

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