----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 4:51 PM Subject: [STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Romania Boosts NATO Hopes With War Games STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK Romania Boosts NATO Hopes With War Games http://www.centraleurope.com/romaniatoday/news.php3?id=198728 ================================= Weds., Sept. 13, 2000 - Romania Boosts NATO Hopes With War Games ENISALA, Romania, Sep 13, 2000 -- (Reuters) NATO fighter jets thundered above Romania on Tuesday in a multinational war game that Bucharest hopes will boost its chances to join the Western military alliance. Troops and aircraft from six NATO nations together with contingents from Romania, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Slovenia sent fighters and helicopters to stage a peace support operation at Enisala military range, near the River Danube delta. "We want Romania to be a strong candidate for NATO membership and such exercises are an important part of that effort," U.S Ambassador James Rosapepe told Reuters as squadrons of NATO F-16s and Romanian airforce MiG-21 Lancers roared above. Rosapepe was among senior government and Western army officials who watched the exercise, code-named Cooperative Key. The exercise is part of a series of similar war games staged across Romania through September 27, aiming to test the Romanian military's "inter-operability" with NATO forces by getting different technologies to work in harmony. Under the scenario at Enisala, fictitious "Yellowlandia" is devastated by civil war. Thousands of people are killed in clashes with security forces. Many army officers and troops join rebel forces and the country is thrown into chaos, with scores of refugees finding shelter in camps near its borders. When the government, unable to handle the crisis, requests United Nations support, NATO throws together an international task force to assist. PRECISION 'ATTACK' On Tuesday, NATO and Romanian jets "attacked" positions held by "rebel" forces near a refugee camp. Flying in successive waves, the F-16s launched smoke bombs which hit with pinpoint accuracy positions marked with white circles on the hills surrounding the range. An AWACS radar plane was flying at high altitude to detect "enemy" aircraft, with Romanian jets providing air support. Minutes later, paratroopers from a multinational brigade jumped from huge Hercules C-130 transport planes and took positions near the tents of a refugee camp. Attack helicopters hovered in circles to protect the landing zone. The paratroopers stormed the site in a spectacular assault and detained several "rebels" who infiltrated the camp. Eventually, paramedics carried "injured" refugees and troops to helicopters for evacuation. "Romania needs to reform its military. It must decrease its size and increase its skills," Rosapepe said. Romania has staked its entire post-communist foreign policy on winning membership of the Western security alliance. Bucharest was disappointed it was not admitted in the first round of NATO expansion, which included three of its former Warsaw Pact allies - Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. In 1994, Romania became the first nation to join NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) program. The Romanian army chief of staff, General Mircea Chelaru, who also attended the exercise, said he was confident that reforms in the army were on the right track. "The army is firm on its plans to join NATO and to replace the PfP with an operational phase, namely a possible NATO membership," he said. Under the plans, the Romanian army would number some 112,000 staff by 2003, down from 153,000 at present. Since 1994, the Soviet-era regimental system has been replaced by a brigade structure common in NATO forces and the army was put under civilian command. - (C)2000 Copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. © 1995-2000 European Internet Network Inc. All rights reserved. ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb
