At the headquarters of EUFOR RCA (Central Africa)… in Larissa
(BRUSSELS2 in Larissa) The headquarters of the EUFOR RCA operation has taken up its headquarters at the Nikolaou Plastira camp in Larissa (in Greece), where the 1st Greek army is established, not far from the military airbase.
At the bottom of a basin
We are a good three hours drive from Athens, 1h30 from Thessaloniki. And Larissa is located in a vast agricultural plain, bordered in the distance by hills. A real bowl. Suffice to say that even in May, at the height of the day, the sun beats down hard. Summer is worse, a regular tells me. And in this vast area, cut off from the sea by a small hill, there is little wind to cool off. Result: crushing heat in summer, with a certain humidity that rises from the rivers... " Less humidity, we are not very far from what we meet in the Rep. Central African jokes an officer. Less discomfort, one might add.
17 nationalities
Here there are 128 staff of different nationalities (17 in total). The main nations present on the theater are represented: there are thus French, Spaniards, Germans, Georgians, Poles, Finns, Italians... But also all the States which were unable, or not judged good, to send troops on the ground (British, ...). Most of the device is "armed" by the Greeks of the 1st army (about fifty). The Chief of Staff being himself Greek, General Drissa.
Each element has its office
Inside the command building, located on two floors, a succession of offices. We are not here in the concept chosen by the British in Northwood of a large command room with 2 - 3 other fallback rooms; nor the device chosen by the French for their CPCO, in the basement. We breathe the sun. And every element of command - from J2 (intelligence) to D4 (logistics) or D5 (planning) or D7 (training and feedback, "lessons") - at her office.
Looking at different sources
On the intelligence side, the bulk of the work is to deal with open sources. " Many things are on the internet today, it must then be analyzed, qualified, reported explains Colonel Ekström, a Finn. The " problem we face is having information, sometimes contradictory ". Much of this information is used to brief the Operation Commander (the Ops Commander in jargon). And this can be useful for planning developments or notions in the field. This is also useful in his discussions with political leaders. Sample question " which can be asked: how many Muslims remain in such and such a neighborhood in Bangui? If it's 3000 or 7000, this will necessarily induce different force engagements ».
Planning: a major challenge for the European Union
Another office, another atmosphere. The J5 - planning - one of the most important challenges in all missions of the European Union, underlines Colonel Tsiokanis. " Unlike NATO, we do not have a permanent command structure. "It is therefore necessary to build everything from scratch from the beginning and to" follow each day if we are in the nails ».
Have a general view
At the end of the corridor, the command room (JOC), quite small after all. In this room are the watchkeepers, who watch 24 hours a day, 24 days a week, reinforced as necessary by specialized officers. Without forgetting, the essential element today, essential to any command room, the television screen which allows to connect to the outside and provides additional information. The interest of this room is to gather in the same place, the same point, all the information that arrives and the problems (logistics, command, medical, etc.) that may arise; to provide the commander with all the essential elements and thus be able to decide quickly. Several meetings are organized in this room, using all means, telephone, internet, to constantly update our data.
A level of alert... very variable
On the wall, a table that displays the alert level of the day. From white to red passing to green, blue or yellow, it gives the temperature at a glance of the situation on the ground. " The status can change from minute to minute, says an officer. The situation in Bangui is (indeed) very, very complex. » It is the commander who determines the level of alert, according to a coding defined in an internal document, according to events on the ground. " There are a number of different factors at play, parameters to consider. No need to ask for too many details... We won't know anything more. Top-secret! What you need to know - a senior officer confided to us - is that the upper level of alert, the "Red", is " any event that could jeopardize the smooth running of the mission ».
Two boroughs at risk
The two districts allocated to Europeans - the 3rd and 5th arrondissements - are not, in fact, among the quietest in the Central African capital. On the contrary. Those are " among the most dangerous in Bangui », Tells us an officer. The 3rd quarter is an essentially Muslim sector but there are also Christians gathered in a well-defined area », hence the risk of friction. The 5th arrondissement remains (or at least remained) a mixed district. And " we are faced with an additional danger », that of permanent confrontation; one always being the minority of the other.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
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