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To: shades who wrote (60134)	5/2/2006 3:28:44 PM
From: shades	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

NATO Chief:Could Be Asked To Protect Shipments From Africa . BRUSSELS (AP)--NATO warships could be called on to protect shipments of oil and gas from western Africa against the threat of attack from pirates or terrorists, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Tuesday. "As far as oil and gas is concerned, I think NATO could play a role to defend the sea lanes," de Hoop Scheffer told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee. His comment's follow a suggestion from the alliance's top operational commander Gen. James L. Jones last week that NATO take a role to counter piracy off the Horn of Africa and in the Gulf of Guinea, especially when it threatens energy supply routes. However, de Hoop Scheffer rejected suggestion from a member of the E.U. parliament that NATO might be called upon to intervene on the ground in Nigeria - the biggest western Africa energy exporter - to defend Western oil supplies. "It certainly isn't the intention of NATO to intervene in Nigeria," he said. Concern over energy supplies has risen in Europe in recent months due to the tension over Iran and Iraq, and worries over Russian gas exports following Moscow's recent winter price dispute with Ukraine. De Hoop Scheffer also denied that NATO military exercises next month in Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa, were linked to the energy security issue. The maneuvers, NATO's first in the region will involve thousands of troops in land, sea and air exercises due to test the capabilities of the alliance's elite new response force. Such moves into areas well beyond its heartland in Europe and North America did not mean NATO had ambitions to become "a global policeman," de Hoop Scheffer insisted. NATO navy units have run anti-terrorist patrols in the Mediterranean Sea since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. In over an hour of wide-ranging talks with the European Union legislators, de Hoop Scheffer called for closer cooperation between NATO and the E.U., and urged them to back efforts to modernize Europe's armed forces. Responding to questions on the Middle East, de Hoop Scheffer ruled out any NATO intervention unless there is a peace agreement leading to a United Nations mandate for the alliance that's backed by all the regional players. Without that, "NATO will not directly enter the Israeli-Palestinian problem," he said. On Darfur, de Hoop Scheffer restated the position expressed by NATO foreign ministers last week in Bulgaria which said the alliance was willing to help provide more transport, training and other back up for African Union peacekeepers, but only if requested by the A.U. De Hoop Scheffer acknowledged the dangerous task of European peacekeepers serving with NATO force in Afghanistan as they move into the volatile south and east of the country alongside Canadian and U.S. troops. But he stressed the importance of a strong military force to show remnants of the Taliban regime that "they are not going to get anywhere." (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 02, 2006 13:52 ET (17:52 GMT)