STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Swiss Narrowly Approve Referendum Updated: Sun, Jun 10 2:03 PM EDT By BALZ BRUPPACHER, Associated Press Writer BERN, Switzerland (AP) - Swiss voters on Sunday gave razor-thin approval to a government proposal to arm peacekeepers, rejecting nationalist claims it will wreck Switzerland's 200-year record of staying out of world conflicts. The defense minister acknowledged the strong opposition to the measure and underlined that the country's troops on foreign missions would be armed only to defend themselves. "In no case will Swiss soldiers in U.N. or OSCE peacekeeping forces take part in combat," Defense Minister Samuel Schmid said. Unarmed Swiss forces are currently deployed with both the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. "We have understood the message of the referendum," he said, promising the government would act carefully when deciding when to arm peacekeepers and would seek parliament's consent. In Sunday's referendum, 51 percent voted in favor of the move while 49 percent voted against it, according to a near-final tally. Some 41.1 percent of voters cast ballots - a typical turnout in Switzerland's numerous referendums. The government also won approval on two other questions: to allow joint training with NATO forces; and to end a long-ignored requirement that the government approve any new Roman Catholic diocese. Billionaire industrialist Christoph Blocher, who has led opposition to foreign deployments, expressed continued disagreement. "The Swiss army has only one purpose - to protect the Swiss people and the country," he said. An opposition coalition of nationalists and peace activists waged a hard-fought campaign in recent weeks that eroded a comfortable government majority on the issue, according to pre-election polls. "Soldiers come back from wars wounded, sick, mutilated or dead," said a nationalist poster and brochure campaign featuring images of the battered corpse of an American peacekeeper in Somalia and a cemetery full of white crosses. Switzerland has never been a member of the United Nations, but its soldiers for decades have taken part in international peacekeeping missions in places such as Korea, Namibia and the Balkans. By law, they have left their guns at home. Now the Swiss government wants its peacekeepers to be on an equal footing with other forces and protect themselves. The government wants an end to arrangements like the one in Kosovo, where a small Swiss force has to rely on a unit from neighboring Austria for protection. "The military must be able to defend itself," a government brochure proclaimed. Switzerland, which requires all able-bodied men to stand ready for instant call-up in a citizen-soldiers army, has shunned alliances since the Napoleonic invasion of 1798 and has relied on its militia to protect the country's borders. It has joined in NATO's Partnership for Peace - a kind of junior membership in the trans-Atlantic alliance - as a way of easing the country's isolation in post-Cold War Europe. The second referendum question proposed changes that would tighten Switzerland's links to NATO by permitting Swiss troops to train abroad or foreign forces to conduct military exercise with the Swiss in Switzerland. The government won approval by 51.2 percent to 48.8 percent. Parliament had approved the peacekeeper and NATO changes last fall, but opponents forced a referendum by taking advantage of a constitutional provision enabling Swiss citizens to veto decisions of the legislature. In a third question on the ballot, the government sought to eliminate a constitutional clause requiring government approval for any new Roman Catholic diocese. Some 64.2 percent voted in favor of getting rid of that provision, while 35.8 percent voted to keep it. The provision was inserted in 1874 after Protestant-Catholic tensions. Miroslav Antic, http://www.antic.org/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
