STRASBOURG, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The two-day NATO
summit ended here on Saturday after leaders of the 28-member states agreed to
appoint Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as new secretary-general of
the military alliance.
Incumbent Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
told a press conference that Rasmussen was chosen by "unanimity."
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh
Rasmussen (L) and Current NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
attend a news conference in Strasbourg, France, on April 4, 2009. Leaders
of NATO member states managed to agree on Saturday to appoint Danish Prime
Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as new secretary general of the alliance.
(Xinhua/Wu Wei) Photo Gallery>>>
Consensus was forged in a last-minute effort after
Turkey dropped its opposition to the candidacy of Rasmussen, who outraged the
Muslim world by defending the rights of a Danish newspaper to publish cartoons
of Prophet Mohammed in 2006.
Heavyweight members of the alliance tried hard to
persuade Turkey to support Rasmussen.
Leaders of the NATO member states discussed the topic
on Friday night during the first session of the summit, but it ended without a
result.
Leaders of NATO member states take a
family photo after crossing German-French border bridge, Passerelle
Bridge, which connected German city Kehl and French city Strasbourg, in
Strasbourg, France, on April 4, 2009. Leaders of NATO member states held a
symbolic ceremony on the French-German border on Saturday to celebrate the
60th anniversary of the military alliance and the return of France as a
full member.(Xinhua/Wu Wei) Photo Gallery>>>
A candidate for NATO chief is nominated through an
informal process, but it needs the endorsement of all member states. Rasmussen
will take over from Scheffer of the Netherlands on August 1, 2009.
On Afghanistan, the summit agreed to give support to
U.S. President Barack Obama's new strategy, with some NATO allies pledging more
resources to help root out extremists in the region. But most of the them
declined to send more troops.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy supported the new
policy in Afghanistan, saying France would offer more assistance in training
Afghan military forces and police, but no extra soldiers would be sent.
(L-R) NATO Secretary General Jaap de
Hoop Scheffer, U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy reach France after crossing
German-French border bridge, Passerelle Bridge, which connected German
city Kehl and French city Strasbourg, on April 4, 2009. Leaders of NATO
member states held a symbolic ceremony on the French-German border on
Saturday to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the military alliance and
the return of France as a full member.(Xinhua/Wu Wei) Photo Gallery>>>
Under the U.S. strategy, the United States will send
17,000 additional combat troops to Afghanistan, and 4,000 troops to help train
the Afghan army and more civilian personnel to deal with problems such as the
narcotics trade.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also supported
Obama's Afghanistan policy, but pledged no more than 600 military personnel to
help train Afghan forces.
The leaders agreed to work on a new strategic concept
to update NATO's current one as it does not reflect the present day practices of
the military alliance, including the mission in Afghanistan, a NATO spokesman
said. But collective defence and security would be at the center of the new
strategic concept, he said.
The members also had a common vision to cooperate
with Russia, "a great European power," the spokesman said.
He said they agreed that there were areas where
cooperation would be mutually beneficial, but also recognized there were areas
where NATO and Russia disagreed.
The members insisted that NATO's desire to cooperate
with Russia "does not mean NATO would compromise its core principles," the
spokesman said.
Before the second session of the summit opened on
Saturday morning, the leaders held a symbolic ceremony to celebrate the 60th
anniversary of the military alliance and honor soldiers who died in NATO
missions over the years.
Led by Merkel, they gathered on a bridge over the
River Rhine connecting France and Germany, the co-hosts of the two-day NATO
summit, and walked toward the French city to meet Sarkozy in the middle of the
bridge where they shook hands before proceeding to Strasbourg.
The ceremony was also meant to celebrate France's
return to NATO's military command after it quit 43 years ago in pursuit of an
independent defence policy.
Aux Morts, an anthem used by the French military to
honor the dead, was played for NATO soldiers who died in missions and operations
during the past 60 years.
Leaders of NATO member states take a
family photo after crossing German-French border bridge, Passerelle
Bridge, which connected German city Kehl and French city Strasbourg, in
Strasbourg, France, on April 4, 2009. Leaders of NATO member states held a
symbolic ceremony on the French-German border on Saturday to celebrate the
60th anniversary of the military alliance and the return of France as a
full member.(Xinhua/Wu Wei) Photo Gallery>>>
The summit was held under tight security. About
15,000 German police and 9,000 French police were on duty.
As many as 25,000 to 40,000 protesters from across
Europe held demonstrations, according to German and French authorities.
Police detained 25 protesters and dispersed some
others with tear gas in a pre-dawn conflict before leaders held their second
session of the summit on Saturday.
Another group of 200 French and German protesters
were dispersed by tear gas and flash bombs from a central intersection in
downtown Strasbourg. More than 50 were reportedly injured in the incident.
The demonstrators moved toward the center of
Strasbourg to prevent the NATO delegates from arriving.
Nearly 2,000 demonstrators left their camp in the
south of the city before dawn and made their way to the summit venue under the
close surveillance of several police helicopters.
A planned visit by the spouses of the NATO leaders,
including Obama's wife Michelle, to a cancer hospital was cancelled due to
security concerns, according to the French president's office.
Even before the summit, demonstrators clashed on
Thursday in Strasbourg's south neighborhood of Neuhoff, leading to more than 300
arrests.
The summit was co-hosted by Strasbourg and the German
towns of Kehl and Baden-Baden.
This was the first time that a NATO summit had been
hosted by two countries.
STRASBOURG, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of NATO member states held a symbolic
ceremony on the French-German border on Saturday to celebrate the 60th
anniversary of the military alliance and the return of France as a full member.
They gathered on a bridge over the Rhine river connecting France and Germany,
the co-hosts of a two-day NATO summit, and walked towards the French city to
have their major session.
STRASBOURG, France, April 4 (Xinhua) -- NATO
said Saturday that it will establish a NATO training mission -- Afghanistan
within International Security Assistance Force to oversee higher level training
for the Afghan National Army.
In the Summit Declaration on Afghanistan released Saturday, NATO welcomed
current initiatives in support of the shared objective of training and mentoring
the Afghan National Police, saying that the European Gendarmerie Force could
play an active role in this regard.
STRASBOURG, April 3 (Xinhua) -- NATO heads of state and
government on Friday night struggled for consensus on the next secretary general
but could not get there, said NATO spokesman James Appathurai.
The leaders have agreed to continue the discussion on Saturday morning, he
told reporters.
STRASBOURG, April 4 (Xinhua) -- NATO leaders on Saturday launched a process
to rewrite its Strategic Concept, a document that guides all its activities.
"We task the (NATO) secretary general to convene and lead a broad-based group
of qualified experts, who in close consultation with al allies, will lay the
ground for the secretary general to develop a new Strategic Concept," NATO
leaders said in a statement.
STRASBOURG, April 4 (Xinhua) --
The leaders of NATO member states have agreed here on Saturday to relaunch talks
with Russia in the framework of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), suspended by the
alliance unilaterally after the Russia-Georgia military conflict.
"Despite our current disagreements, Russia is of particular importance to us
as a partner and neighbor," they said in a declaration issued at a two-day
summit marking the 60th anniversary of the bloc.
