The “security” mission for Somalia, still under study…
(BRUSSELS2) Carl Bildt, the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, confirmed it today, on behalf of the European Union: the establishment of a European stabilization mission for Somalia may not be decided at the end of July by the 27 Foreign Ministers. It's not ripe yet, he explained to me when I asked him the question during a discreet press briefing: " We are studying various options. The debate is ongoing. The situation is delicate, constantly evolving. It is therefore necessary to study closely all the possibilities and especially all the impossibilities.. As for the recent kidnapping of two French agents, present in Mogadishu, to assist the Somali army, even if he did not want to comment on it, Carl Bildt indicated that this "should complicate the task even more ».
Among the options studied at the European Union is the possibility of training the Somali security forces - a projet that France should start in September and which was proposed to the other European partners in May. But the training of soldiers is not really to the liking of all the Member States, which are not used to such a military commitment. Second option: the training of police officers, or even Somali judges, capable of strengthening the rule of law, but "off shore". That is to say, outside Somalia - a country too dangerous to carry out this type of action there. A bit like we did, with the Eujust Lex operation in Iraq, where police and judges came to train in nearby countries (Jordan, etc.) or in Europe. Another option: more in line with anti-piracy action: the formation of coast guards. With one concern, lay enough guardrails to prevent these coastguards, once formed, from passing to the other side and becoming "excellent hackers"A new ESDP action is therefore behind schedule. But it was expected. Javier Solana, the EU's high representative, had moreover, in June, rung the bells of the Member States a little, reminding them of their commitments (read here).
