NATO Dismisses East German’s Plan for Troop Cutbacks
NATO dismissed proposals by East German Communist Party leader Gregor Gysi for massive troop cuts in the two Germanys, saying Monday that it does not want to create special zones for arms control.
Gysi, whose party heads a transitional government preceding free elections scheduled in May, proposed Saturday that all foreign troops leave East and West Germany by 1999 and that both states halve their own armed forces by next year.
A spokesman for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said the proposals are not official and that current East-West talks in Vienna on conventional forces in Europe will be the right place to discuss such ideas.
“We seek comprehensive solutions to the problems of security and stability in Europe, not the creation of special zones,” the spokesman said.
NATO member West Germany also responded coolly, saying it does not take Gysi’s call very seriously.
Bonn government spokesman Hans Klein said, “Gysi would be better advised to bother himself with East Germany’s present problems than to make spectacular public proposals.”
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