Holy Unicorn, pray for us (Shift)

(BRUSSELS2)"The situation is worrying. And is very confused on the spotHere is in a nutshell the observation made by a senior official of the European diplomatic service responsible, under the seal of sacrosanct anonymity, for quickly briefing journalists on the situation in Côte d'Ivoire. recommendations or measures taken to promote the evacuation of Europeans on the spot. The EU leaves, in fact, to each Member State the care of managing the instructions left to fellow citizens as well as the means to be put in place. "It is a national prerogative“recalls the diplomat, who thus prefers not to give any indication of a possible general evacuation,”For now".

Be careful with ... groupings

Caution remains in order, however. "Every European should stay at home and avoid streets and other places that are unsafe" or leaving the country for "those who can take civilian or special aircraft", recalls this diplomat who was stationed in the region. Paradoxically, he did not join the order of regrouping given to the French, believing that it could be dangerous. NB: Is this a distinction compared to the orders given by the French or simply a "little gap" compared to the latest information? I would lean (personally) for the second hypothesis.

NB: At the French military camp of Port Bouët in Abidjan, there are currently 1850 nationals, according to the General Staff of the armies. Half are French (there are around 12.000 nationals in Abidjan), the rest Europeans, Lebanese and Americans.

Unicorn, save us!

Clearly, in fact, it seems that the Europeans are offloading on UNOCI, responsible for protecting civilians (but without illusions about their real power) and especially on the French of the Licorne force - "specifically responsible for protecting nationals" - to do the work of protection, regrouping, or even evacuation. No SitCen agent has thus been deployed on the ground, confirms this European diplomat. And according to the information collected, moreover, most of the information pass through the CoOl (Consular on Line) network The triggering of the MIC (Civil Protection coordination cell) is not, for the moment, topical.

As for the deployment of a European battlegroup to reinforce the French, that is out of the question. Just to mention this idea, my interlocutor laughs out loud... And that's it. The reality is raw. The Swedish-Finnish and German-Austrians - on duty this semester - can continue to play in their mountains or in their countryside to train and pretend that they will serve one day. They will not leave, if ever, unless they force the High Representative. She does not believe in the virtues of this instrument.