SERBIA-MONTENEGRO ARMY TO REDUCE, REORGANISE UNITS, WEAPONRY BY YEAR'S END

BELGRADE, Jan 6 (Hina) - The first stage of the Serbia-Montenegro Army reform will see the annihilation by the end of this year of 210 T-55 tanks, about 300 cannons and howitzers, about 1,000 20-mm cannons and some 80,000 pieces of infantry weaponry, Tanjug news agency said on Tuesday citing a report of the General Staff.#L# Owing to the lack of the most important documents on defence, such as defence strategy and military doctrine, the army opted to reduce the number of units, reorganise them and equip them with more modern equipment before carrying out strategic reforms, reads the report. By the end of the first reform phase, the number of brigades will be reduced from 1992's 187 to 59 and that of soldiers from 206,000 in 1992 to 76,000. Under a Serbia-Montenegro government decision, 419 km of the land border and 153 km of the sea border, namely Montenegro's share, will be left to the control of the Montenegrin Interior Ministry. In the section on the most important results achieved last year, the report cites the subordination of the General Staff to the Serbia-Montenegro Defence Ministry, the transformation of the Intelligence Administration into the Military and Intelligence Agency and of the Security Administration into the Military and Security Agency, both subordinate to the Defence Ministry, and the establishment of the National Centre for Peace Missions. (Hina) ha