EU: Hesitations about military mission in Congo
01 January 2006
Leading EU member states are reluctant to heed a United Nations request to send troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo for the period of the elections in June: they are too stretched by commitments in other areas.
In January, the United Nations (UN) asked the EU to send a battle group of up to 1,200 soldiers to the Democratic Republic of Congo to support the current UN mission MONUC by offering protection on the ground during the presidential elections.
Although the EU had planned to announce a final decision on its military commitment in the Democratic Republic of Congo by the end of February, the decision was postponed several times. The EU wants to show up as a global security player. The Congo mission would be its sixteenth operation to date. Others range from peacekeeping in Bosnia to monitoring the Gaza-Egypt border and peace monitoring in Aceh, Indonesia. However the member states are hesitating as to who should take the lead on the operation in Congo. France, for instance, is unwilling to take on the role due to its current commitment in the Ivory Coast and its previous leading role in the "Artemis" operation in the Congo in 2003. The UK will not offer forces as it feels over-stretched with its involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Germany is the only other EU nation with sufficient planning capacity for such an operation but is has shown unwillingness to be put in the lead role.
EU military planners are now sifting through options starting with the deployment of a force of between 200-450 soldiers to the capital Kinshasa. To that could be added a reserve force of up to 800 troops based either in Africa (Gabon) or in Europe. Tasks for any troops on the ground could include protecting Kinshasa airport, helping to train the Congolese police and supporting UN forces.
According to Congolese observers mentioned in the German newspaper TAZ the delay has also to do with the conviction of the US and France and their African friends that the victory of the incumbent president Kabila is now inescapable. A smaller EU force would according to diplomats only have the role of evacuating Europeans in case of riots.
The costs of the EU-mission in Congo are estimated at 5 to 15 million euro depending on size and length.
www.euractiv.com; Reuters 21.2.06 (Mark John); Taz 28.2.06 (Dominic Johnson)