NATO HQ 6 May 1999

Secretary General's farewell speech to the CMC at the special Ceremony Ladies and Gentlemen, On behalf of the North Atlantic Council I would like to thank General Klaus Naumann for his years of distinguished service to the Alliance. General, you arrived at NATO in February 1996. During your time here the Alliance has gone through many changes. You have been at the centre of all of them: enlargement, reform of the command structure, the European Strategic Defence Initiative - all are better for the contribution of Klaus Naumann. You leave the Alliance in better shape than you found it. But you also leave us in the midst of another issue that marks the changes since you arrived: the crisis in Kosovo. The unity of the Alliance, our clarity of purpose and our effective strategy reflect your efforts not just over the past few months - but over the past few years. In the Kososo crisis we have put into practice many of the new tools you have steered through the Military Committee in recent years. Your efforts have helped ensure that our air campaign is well on track and is meeting its objectives. We are successfully degrading Milosevic's criminal machine: removing his ability to control his forces, and cutting off his ability to sustain them. Each day his troops become more and more isolated in Kosovo; each day, Milosevic moves closer to defeat. Our aims remain clear: the killing must stop, Milosevic's forces must go, an international force - with NATO at its core - should enter Kosovo, and all the refugees should be allowed to go home and rebuild their lives in safety. We want to see in Kosovo a lasting political settlement based on the Rambouillet Agreement. I am confident we will succeed in Kosovo: the unity of spirit we saw at the Washington Summit demonstrated the determination of all NATO members and Partners to see the conflict through until our aims are met. Mon gnral, Cher Klaus, Votre aptitude au commandement, votre nergie sans relche et votre engagement total pour la paix et la scurit au Kosovo ont t en tous points remarquables. Soyez sr que l'OTAN continuera faire preuve de la mme dtermination jusqu' ce que les objectifs de la communaut internationale soient atteints, et que les Albanais du Kosovo puissent rentrer chez eux en paix et en scurit. Mon Gnral, le succs du Sommet de Washington est l'hommage le plus rcent vos efforts comme militaire et comme diplomate. Pendant les trois dernires annes, vous avez toujours donn au Conseil de l'Atlantique Nord les conseils militaires aviss dont nous avions besoin. En outre, au sein du Comit Militaire et de l'Etat-Major Militaire International, vous avez toujours su mettre en oeuvre les dcisions du Conseil. Toutes ces qualits et ces russites font de votre dpart une preuve pnible pour nous tous : mais, aprs ces trois annes de dur labeur, je crois que vous mritez bien un peu de repos . Mon gnral, cher Klaus, merci pour tout. Je vous souhaite, ainsi qu' votre pouser, beaucoup de bonheur pour la suite. Auf wiedersehen und viel Glck fr die Zukunft!