They left !

(BRUSSELS2) The contingent of Georgian soldiers will soon be deployed in the Central African Republic, as part of the European operation "EUFOR Rca".

The hundred or so men from the Batumi light infantry battalion headed for Bangui aboard regular Ukrainian airliners, greeted before their departure by Colonel Roman Jokhadze, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

Training with two French officers

Before leaving, they were trained at the Center national Krtsanisi training course, for two months, with patrol exercises, setting up of checkpoints, protection of bases, etc. Training followed and supervised by two French officers who came to lend a hand, in particular to explain the local context.

An African first

If the Georgian troops have been seasoned by multiple deployments, alongside the Americans essentially, Iraq and Afghanistan, this is the first time that they have intervened in a European Union mission in Africa. The last stewardship problems had been settled previously, as a European Union spokesperson told B2 (there was in fact still to be paid for the fuel and a few other "tinkerings"), the Georgians will soon be able to be hard at work in Bangui, securing one of the city's districts. They will join their Estonian, French, Spanish and Polish counterparts already present in the Central African capital. This could make it possible to declare the full operational capacity of EUFOR before the end of June.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)