EUFOR Rca bogged down in logistical issues
(BRUSSELS2 - exclusive) A new generation conference is to be held this Thursday (March 13) at the Council of the EU to complete the system of the EUFOR RCA military operation. It's the fourth. The other generation conferences were unsuccessful. And the logistics conference held in Greece also failed to fill all the “holes”. The operation still suffers from difficulties in terms of strategic transport (Europe-Bangui) and various rather concrete logistical functions on site.
In particular, we do not yet know how the 140 Georgian soldiers ready to leave will be sent there. The various partners consulted replied in the negative or did not follow up. The United States, for example, were approached but replied that they could help MISCA or UN soldiers but not those of the EU... Moreover, with the help of the Ukrainian crisis, certain countries have already, or are considering suspending or reducing their offer to participate. This would be the case in particular for Romania and Poland. The High Representative Catherine Ashton asked, by letter, the various Member States to make an effort. But apparently, she didn't take her phone - necessary in this case - to convince the hesitant or reluctant one by one.
Commentary: a paper army?
The generation of forces today shows all the European weaknesses. Whether in terms of personnel, financial and logistical commitment, the reality is stark. The European Union is unable to align and, above all, to ensure the support of a few hundred men available for 6 months, within the framework of a peacekeeping operation, under a UN mandate. . And even ! If we remove the workforce from third countries, that provided by France (framework nation) and those present at the rear, at the General Staff, we arrive at around 300 soldiers, according to a last evaluation. It's weak! Especially compared to the total number of armies that line up on paper, 1,5 million men. While the EU is engaged in a standoff with Russia, this inability to honor its international commitments risks not going unnoticed by our neighbors and partners. It is not the moment...
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
NB: for the European operation in Chad RCA, it is already... to Russia that all eyes were turned. In the middle of the war in Georgia, very discreetly, an agreement was signed with Moscow allowing the arrival of Russian helicopters in eastern Chad. A welcome arrival which had made it possible to "unblock" the mission. Read (for the record): Exclusive. The Russian-EU agreement for helicopters in Chad et Russia will be present with 4 helicopters in Chad
