News

The Czech anti-chemical unit based in Kuwait as part of operation 'Enduring Freedom' will see a rotation of military personnel at the end of June at the latest, an army representative told journalists on Friday. The current contingent, which is 400 members strong, has a number of members who have been stationed in Kuwait since last September, some of whom had already been expected to return home. Deputy Defence Minister Jan Vana revealed on Friday that the manner of rotating personnel, however, would not be up to Czech officials alone, but also up to the US, aware the Czech contingent has a mandate to serve in the Gulf until the end of 2003. Besides being able to provide decontamination expertise, the Czech Republic has also indicated it could provide additional experts to help locate possible weapons of mass destruction.

The Czech President, Vaclav Klaus, who is on a two-day state visit to Poland, his second foreign trip as Czech President, has met his Polish counterpart Aleksander Kwasniewski and parliament leaders in Warsaw. Mr Klaus and Mr Kwasniewski agreed that the war in Iraq should end as soon as possible and with the lowest possible number of casualties. The two presidents also talked about their countries' future membership of the European Union and the forthcoming referendums on joining the EU.

The president of the Czech Tennis Union, Ivo Kaderka, says he is considering not sending a Czech Fed Cup team to face the United States on April 26 and 27 due to fears of a possible terrorist attack. Mr Kaderka has sought a guarantee of the Czech women's team's safety from the Czech Foreign Ministry and the chairman of Parliament's Defence and Security Committee. A decision is to be made in two week's time on whether to allow the Czech team to go.

On Sunday delegates at the Social Democratic Party's convention passed a resolution condemning the current US-led war on Iraq. The passing of the resolution followed heated discussion on the war, as well as an incident when the crowd whistled loudly against one speaker who showed support for the US-led war. The resolution criticised the US actions, saying that the conflict could have been avoided, stressing that without a UN mandate the attack went against international law. Interestingly, the Social Democrat resolution changes nothing on the official government stance, which has shown support for the US by sending the Czechs' elite anti-chemical unit to Kuwait.