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Operations Artemis & Concordia

01 May 2003

The Council of the European Union adopted on 5 June 2003 a Joint Action approving the deployment of 1,500, predominantly French, troops to the Ituri district of north-eastern Congo as an interim emergency multinational force. The immediate cause for the sending of troops was the massacre of over 500 civilians in the Bunia area in inter-ethnic fighting in the weeks before.

The EU-led Operation "Artemis" (called "Mamba" in France!) will be conducted under UN-mandate and will support and reinforce the existing UN peaceforce (MONUC) until a more robust MONUC force under Bangladeshi leadership can be deployed in September. France will act as the Framework (leading) nation for the operation. The operational headquarters are located in Paris and include staff members from the general Secretariat of the EU Council as well as officers from several participating member states. The headquarters of the military force itself is installed in Entebbe (Uganda) with an outpost in Bunia.

The EU's Political and Security Committee (PSC) will exercise political control and strategic direction of the operation. This is the first EU military mission outside the European continent. The force will not call on NATO assets.

In the meantime the first EU military mission "Concordia" in Macedonia has been extended from the 30th September to the 15 December. It started in March when the EU took over from NATO. Concordia comprises 380 military from 27 countries.

European Council press release; SHAPE News Summary and Analysis 5.6.03; Bonn International Centre for Conversion (BICC) press release 17.6.03; Le Monde 6.5.03 (Jacques Isnard); Telegraaf 21.7.03