FOREIGN ministers from the 16 Nato member states agreed yesterday to allow European countries to undertake military operations within the alliance without United States involvement.
The measure, which forms part of a radical overhaul of Nato following the end of the Cold War, prompted the French foreign minister, Mr Herve de Charette, to announce that his country was prepared to resume a full role in the alliance.
"If this process is completed, France regards with interest this new alliance and declares itself ready to participate fully according to a new status," he said.
France walked out of the military wing of Nato 30 years ago when President Charles de Gaulle refused to allow his troops to serve under a US commander.
The new concept would allow for the creation of small Combined Joint Task Forces (CJTF) made up of European states and under the command of the Western European Union (WEU).
The US would limit itself to offering logistical support such as transport planes, satellite intelligence and sophisticated communications equipment to the task forces. But US officials insisted they would retain the right to become involved in the planning of any new operations.
The new units would be deployed in peacekeeping operations within Europe, which Nato regards as one of the new challenges facing it following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"In the long run, it is neither in the American nor in the European interest that we have to call our American friends each time something flares up somewhere," said Germany's foreign minister, Mr Klaus Kinkel.
Yesterday's decision represents a boost to the status of the WEU, in which Ireland enjoys observer status.
The US Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher, defended the changes as necessary parts of a reshaping of Nato in the light of new circumstances. "They will give Nato the flexibility to meet its new post Cold War responsibilities while preserving its fundamental mission," he said.
The foreign ministers agreed that the Implementation Force (Ifor) operation in Bosnia would conclude as planned at the end of this year. But the Nato Secretary General, Mr Javier Solana, said the 60,000 strong force would remain at full strength until after the elections due to take place in Bosnia in September. This leaves open the possibility that the mandate will be extended into next year if the political situation demands, it but postpones a potentially unpopular decision until after November's US presidential elections.
In the coming days the Nato foreign ministers will meet representatives from 28 states, mainly from central and eastern Europe linked to the Partnership for Peace. But the most crucial issue facing the alliance, the admission of former Warsaw Pact states to Nato, will not be discussed because of the meeting's proximity to this month's Russian elections. Western diplomats fear that any discussion of the issue today could be seized on by President Boris Yeltsin's communist an nationalist opponents.
Agencies add: The Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Yevgeny Primakov, warned yesterday that Russia would not accept Nato on its doorstep, but said his country was ready to compromise with the alliance.
Meanwhile, Mr Solana said that troops of the Bosnia peace implementation force (Ifor) have begun redeploying in the former Yugoslav republic to impede the movement of war criminals.
"It's going to be difficult for the war criminals because we're going to deploy troops over the whole territory to ensure freedom of movement except for war criminals," he told Radio France International.
Mr Solana earlier called on the parties present in Bosnia Herzegovina to hand war criminals over to the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, and said the Nato led troops would seek to deprive them of free movement.
Mr Christopher said that Bosnian Serb leader, Dr Radovan Karadzic, and Bosnian Serb military leader, Gen Ratko Mladic, should be removed from positions of power" and handed over to The Hague court.
Ten people were detained yesterday by Brelin police during a demonstration by some 1,000 left wing protestors against the meeting of Nato foreign ministers, police said.
