EUMM Georgia dons summer gear: new white vehicles in Gori
(B2) No more French blue Panhards, Bulgarian Mercedes or Polish khaki Dziks... the European Union (EUMM) observers at the Gori Field Office, facing South Ossetia, will be able to sit aboard a single type of vehicle: Toyota Land cruisers, armored 4,5 tons, painted white. A welcome change on several counts. For the vehicles which, since the start of the mission in October 2008, have already carried out nearly 1810 patrols and traveled 176.000 km, the time has come to rest. But above all, it will facilitate and increase the visibility of the EU's mission in the region.
No confusion can be made with other international vehicles. Since the OSCE observers will have packed up on June 30. While the 145 members of the United Nations mission in Georgia (MONUG) had to cease their functions on the side of Abkhazia, since June 16 (1). THE
EU observers thus remain on their own against the Ossetians, Abkhazians, Russians and Georgians.
This is one of the first times - to my knowledge - that the European Union is the only multinational force (UN, Osce, NATO, etc.) in a position to be able to intervene as an observer or interposition on a territory European. This thus justifies all the debates on the necessary autonomy of the defense policy of the European Union.
(1) Russia having vetoed the renewal of the mission at the Security Council on June 15.
(NGV)
(photo credit: EUMM)
