DTN News - GERMAN DEFENSE NEWS: German Soldiers Bundeswehr Carry Torches During Farewell Ceremony For Former German President In Berlin

DTN News - GERMAN DEFENSE NEWS: German Soldiers Bundeswehr Carry Torches During Farewell Ceremony For Former German President In Berlin
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith 
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 9, 2012:  Soldiers of the German armed forces Bundeswehr carry torches during a farewell ceremony for the former German President on March 8, 2012 at Bellevue Palace in Berlin. 

Germany's former president Christian Wulff was honoured at the torchlit military ceremony after leaving office early under the cloud of a political favours probe. 

Nearly three weeks after resigning, Wulff, 52, was officially waved off from the largely ceremonial job at a nationally televised evening 'Ceremonial Tattoo' (Grosser Zapfenstreich) in the garden of the president's sumptuous Bellevue Palace. 

Wulff, for less than two years Germany's youngest head of state, became embroiled in a quick-fire series of scandals played out in the media, culminating in prosecutors asking parliament to lift his immunity.

 
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DTN News: German Mercenaries To Somalia?

DTN News: German Mercenaries To Somalia?

Source: DTN News / Spiegel.de

(NSI News Source Info) BERLIN, Germany - May 27, 2010: German lawmakers have blasted a German security firm for signing a contract to send former Bundeswehr troops to Somalia protect a local warlord. Asgaard German Security Group said it would supply up to 100 mercenaries, among them former Bundeswehr soldiers, to Somali warlord Abdinur Ahmed Darman as soon as he returns to Somalia. Darman lives in exile but claims he is the country's real president. German politicians have harshly criticized the move, saying it would further destabilize the region. "This is not acceptable," the defense spokesman of the opposition Social Democrats, Frank Arnold, told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. "Laws have to be created that clearly restrict these things." Somalia has been in a state of perpetual clan warfare since 1991, when warlords toppled the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. A U.S.-backed transitional government led by President Sharif Sheik Ahmed has been in power since 2006 but controls only small parts of the country and not even all of the capital Mogadishu. Islamists aligned with al-Qaida this week launched military offensives in Mogadishu in a bid to topple the transitional government. Thomas Kaltegaertner, the chief executive officer of Asgaard, said the possible mission of his contractors in Somalia would be one of peace. Darman is the only politician who could pacify the country, he told the Berliner Zeitung. The private military contractors would only be deployed once Darman is recognized by the international community as the legitimate president of Somalia. Then, the contractors would provide human, building and vehicle security and train Somali security personnel. While Darman isn't considered an Islamist -- he is living in the United States and enjoys good contacts to U.S. congressmen -- his chances of becoming the next president are slim. His support inside the country is limited, and officials in Germany have warned that he may not get the personnel support from Europe. A German prosecutor Wednesday launched an investigation into whether deploying the mercenaries to Somalia would be in violation of a German law that bars the sale of services of German soldiers abroad. A Justice Ministry spokesman Wednesday said the deal could also violate an international arms embargo imposed on Somalia by the United Nations. Meanwhile, security experts aren't thrilled by the prospect of former German troops in a country like Somalia, where some 1.5 million people have been displaced by domestic fighting. "If a German firm were to train and support a Somali militia, that would certainly go against Germany's interests," Annette Weber from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs told public broadcaster ARD. Neither would it look good on Germany's moral record: For years, German politicians criticized the activities of U.S. private security contractor Blackwater, now Xe Services, in conflict zones such as Iraq. "The U.S. government has allowed private security firms to develop into an omnipresent, uncontrollable apparatus in the war zones of this world," the left-leaning Die Tageszeitung newspaper wrote in 2007.

DTN News: German Defense Minister Rebuffs Call For More Troops In Afghanistan

DTN News: German Defense Minister Rebuffs Call For More Troops In Afghanistan

*German Defense Minister Jung has spoken out against a call by the head of NATO to deploy more troops in Afghanistan as tension mounts over confirmation of the death of the Taliban leader in neighboring Pakistan

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) BERLIN, Germany - August 9, 2009: Germany's Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung has rejected calls by the new NATO Secretary General Andres Fogh Rasmussen for a greater German engagement in Afghanistan. German Kommando Spezial Kraefte soldiers with Mercedes Ground Mobility Vehicles in Afghanistan. In an interview with German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, Jung said that there was no reason to commit more troops or money, adding that Germany already has 4,500 soldiers deployed in the region with another 300 who are responsible for the upkeep of AWACS planes. The Airborne Warning and Control Systems crafts are versatile spy planes with advanced radar capabilities used to monitor military air traffic. According to Jung, the German government has invested 200 million euros ($286 million) each year in the region since 2002, bringing the total so far to 1.2 billion euros. The defense minister added that it isn't just about the military aspect anymore and that reconstruction of civilian infrastructure was just as important. "In this area we've done a lot more than many of our European partners," he said. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen made the call for more troops in Afghanistan on Friday. He justified the request by pointing out that the first success against insurgents in the south of the country only came after an increase in the number of troops. Pakistani Taliban chief suspected dead Meanwhile there is still uncertainty over the death of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, following a US drone strike in the northwest of the country. Government officials said they were awaiting full confirmation. There have been reports that the strike also killed Mehsud's wife and several guards in the tribal district of South Waziristan. Despite his allegiance to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, Mehsud was mainly focused on attacking government and civilian targets inside Pakistan, sending only a few fighters from his militia - believed to be up to 20,000 strong - and several squads of suicide bombers to Afghanistan. That might have been the reason that dozens of strikes by CIA operated pilotless aircraft spared him until recently, when Washington realized that his terrorist acts could destabilize Pakistan, a key ally in the fight against terrorism. In March, the US State Department announced a $5 million bounty on his head. American officials and analysts said it may be too early to tell if the strike that apparently killed Mehsud will prompt Pakistan to sustain its active campaign against Taliban and other militant leaders in the lawless region bordering Afghanistan.

German Armed Forces On Patrol In Afghanistan

German Armed Forces On Patrol In Afghanistan

(NSI News Source Info) April 30, 2009: Soldiers of the German armed forces Bundeswehr securing the area as a German liason monitoring team (LMT) walks into a village in Kunduz district, April 28, 2009.

A German soldier was killed and four more injured in an ambush in Afghanistan, the German army said in a statement April 29, 2009.

A patrol of German soldiers was shot at with small arms weapons and rocket propelled grenades in the early evening near Kunduz, said the statement.

The attack came as German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was visiting Afghanistan.

Germany To Base Troops In France For First Time Since WWII

Germany To Base Troops In France For First Time Since WWII

(NSI News Source Info) Paris - February 5, 2009: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed Wednesday that a German battalion will shortly be stationed on French soil for the first time since World War II.

"France will host a German unit permanently on its soil," the two leaders wrote in a joint statement published by the website of the French daily Le Monde. They stressed "the historic significance” of this new step in Franco-German friendship.

The hundreds of German troops will be serving in the Franco-German brigade that was set up in 1989 and which currently has 2,300 French soldiers and 2,800 German forces stationed side-by-side in southwest Germany.

Der Spiegel magazine reported last month that 500 German soldiers would be stationed in the border town of Colmar but reports in the French press cited Strasbourg, Metz or Bitche as possible bases.

German troops occupied much of France during World War II. The eastern Alsace-Lorraine region has a patchwork history of annexation and occupation under both countries.On the website of Le Monde, the two leaders also called for "real co-operation" between NATO and the European Union, saying the "strategic partnership" between them was not strong enough. "To our great regret, the 'strategic partnership' between NATO and the EU has fallen short of our expectations due to disagreements that persist between certain nations," they wrote.

The two leaders are due to meet on Saturday at the Munich security conference, an annual meeting called the "Davos of defense." The Franco-German Brigade was set up by then French president Francois Mitterrand and German chancellor Helmut Kohl to increase military cooperation between the two former enemies.

There are German officers based in Strasbourg in eastern France who are engaged with the NATO mission Eurocorps, but no German military unit has been stationed in the country since the end of World War II over 60 years ago.

There are also regular exchanges between the two countries including German officers who study at French defense academies and helicopter pilots who train in France.