Fears of new war as Moldova upgrades military capacity

NATO helps Moldova's military, right, with arms build-up. (Courtesy: NATO photos)

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - Ignoring calls by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to demilitarize, NATO and Moldova have partnered in a new arms build-up which some in the region say will destabilize the fragile peace over Transdniester.

The objectives stipulated in the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) will contribute to modernizing the armed forces of Moldova, says NATO general Jozsef Forgo, the director of the Coordination Cell of the Partnership for Peace. He made his statement in a press release issued by Moldova's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Thursday.

At a meeting with Eugenia Kistruga, Moldovan deputy-minister of foreign affairs, general Forgo outlined the increased collaboration between Moldova and NATO within the frameworks of the Partnership for Peace program and called on Moldova to implement IPAP. His comments ignore a plea made by OSCE in August to demilitarize as part of a PR stunt where Moldova scrapped a limited amount of obsolete weaponry.

Yevgeny Sholar, a Moldovan political analyst and peace activist, fears that a new war on Transdniester - or Pridnestrovie, by its official name - is a very real risk. From Chisinau, he points out that under cover of talks about demilitarizing, in reality an aggressive rearming of Moldova's military is taking place.

" - The NATO-Moldova Individual Partnership Action Plan, which was approved on 22 May 2006, envisions a ‘rearmament and modernization’ of the Moldovan Army in accordance to North Atlantic Treaty Organization standards," says Sholar.

Calls on peacekeepers to withdraw

Earlier this week, Moldova called for disbanding the current peacekeeping format which is keeping the ceasefire in the buffer zone on the Dniester river. Despite a spotless 14 year record and a 100% success rate in preventing new bloodshed, its foreign minister stated his wish to close down the Transdniester peacekeeping operation and called the current mission "inefficient". Moldova is a cofounder of the trilateral peacekeeping operation and contributes with troops alongside Russia, Transdniester, and observers from OSCE and Ukraine.

Many in Tiraspol see the new moves by Moldova as a clear preparation for hostilities.

" - They want the peacekeepers to go, and they are getting new weapons, says Peter Moraru, a plumber. "That can only mean one thing."

" - Moldova says that it wants dialogue and a peaceful solution. But first they tried an economic blockade against us. When that didn't work, now they upgrade their military. Who do they think that they are fooling?" asks Tiraspol-resident Olga Dirun.

Echoing the fears that a new war is coming to Southeastern Europe if not stopped in time, a wellplaced NATO-watcher points out that the new weapons purchases exceed Moldova's peacetime needs and seriously undermine regional stability.

In the breakup of the Soviet Union, Pridnestrovie - also known as Transdniester or Transnistria - declared independence in 1990 and has maintained effective control of its sovereignty ever since. With the aid of Russian volunteers and Cossack forces, the country succesfully defended itself against a Moldovan invasion attempt in 1992 in a brief but bloody war that left an estimated 1,000 people dead. Moldova has not recognized Pridnestrovie's declaration of independence and still maintains a territorial claim on the unrecognized country.(With information from IPN)

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