Posted on 06/04/2003 4:16:29 PM PDT by blam
Euro-army force to stop Congo killing
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels
(Filed: 05/06/2003)
The European Union agreed yesterday to deploy the new Euro-army for the first time outside Nato command, taking charge of a high-risk United Nations mission to stop the slaughter of civilians in the Congo.
The French-led force, authorised by the United Nations last week, will now come under the European Rapid Reaction Force.
Most of the 1,400-strong force will be made up of French troops wearing EU insignia, backed by British specialists, and Belgian, Canadian and African troops.
They will start moving into action next week, with artillery and fighter jet support, ready to fight pitched battles if necessary.
Up to 400 villagers have already been killed in the Congo's eastern Ituri region over the last three weeks, many by roving rebel groups under the sway of neighbouring Rwanda. The feuding militias have overwhelmed the UN's lightly-armed garrison in Bunia, which is mostly cooped up in its own compound.
Glenys Kinnock, a Labour MEP, said: "All the signs are that this could tip over into terrible bloodshed and become another genocide.
"The French have been itching to go in but they're not the most loved in the region, so if it's an EU force, with the Brits on board, it has far less political baggage."
The EU deployed elements of its 60,000-man rapid reaction force for the first time in Macedonia two months ago, but the mission relies on a Nato "extraction force" if anything goes wrong. Diplomats say the Congo is much more dangerous terrain.
(Last I heard, the Brits were sending 200 'communications' troops)
... The French have been itching to go in but they're not the most loved in the region ...You don't say.
Only they won't say that; instead they'll be demanding we do something to pitch in about the "intolerable" situation in the Congo, and quietly let us replace their forces with ours.
Can you tell I'm a cynic?
I'm hoping for French success for two reasons. First, to minimize bloodshed and cruelty. Second, with pride somehow assauged the French might not be such obstructionists.
Wow, they are sending in the whole European Union Army! Scary...
Tony, baby, are you nuts? The last time you sent an expeditionary force in to support the French you ended up taking them home from Dunkirk in rowboats.
cordially yours,
William T. Drill, esq.
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