NATO's Secretary General Lord Robertson has stepped down after four tumultuous years that saw the alliance confronted with the September 11 attacks, peacekeeping in Afghanistan and deep divisions over the Iraq war.
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| NATO Secretary General Mr George Robertson briefs the media prior to leaving Alliance headquarters in Brussels today. He will be replaced by former Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap deHoop Scheffer.
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Mr Robertson left NATO headquarters for the last time today after chairing his a meeting with envoys from the 19 nations.
His successor, Dutch former foreign minister Mr Jaap de Hoop Scheffer starts work on January 5th.
Mr Robertson did seek a second term and will take up the position of deputy chairman of telecommunication's group Cable & Wireless.
Staff at NATO's headquarters lined up to wave him out and a bagpiper accompanied him to his blue Mercedes, which sped off, past the flags of the NATO nations, and through the main gate.
Mr Robertson's term was historic. NATO invoked its mutual defence clause for the first time since its foundation in 1949, when the allies agreed the September 11 attacks were an attack on all members and offered the United States military help.
The US declined the offer but did eventually go to Afghanistan in August 2003, after the Taliban had been routed. It's 5,700-strong peacekeeping operation was a turning point for the alliance as it was the first time it has moved out of Europe or North America.
Mr Robertson had been a strong advocate of NATO's need to take on such missions, switching its focus to the fight against terrorism, rogue states or regional crises instead of traditional territorial defence and the cold war deterrent to the Russian threat.
In a farewell meeting with reporters last week, Mr Robertson said the achievements he felt most proud of was a new NATO-Russia accord, agreements by European allies to beef up their military and the prompt diplomatic and military intervention in 2001 that prevented an escalation of ethnic violence in Macedonia.
His biggest frustration also came in the Balkans - the failure to catch the leading Bosnian Serb war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, he said.
"Until they are dealt with the Balkans won't be 100 per cent secure," he complained.
His greatest crisis came early this year over the US-led war in Iraq. For weeks, France, Germany and Belgium blocked efforts by the alliance to send defence units to Turkey as the United States prepared for the attack on Saddam Hussein.
It was NATO's worst crisis for years and Mr Robertson acknowledged the alliance had been pushed to the edge of an "abyss".
AP