| Author (Person) | Beatty, Andrew |
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| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.12, No.16, 27.4.06 |
| Publication Date | 27/04/2006 |
| Content Type | News |
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By Andrew Beatty Date: 27/04/06 The EU is expected to give the go-ahead for a troop deployment to the Democratic Republic of Congo in early June, after months of wrangling. The timetable comes after the United Nations Security Council this week lent its support to the mission, which will provide back-up for UN troops during presidential and parliamentary elections this summer. According to a Council of Ministers' official, the troops will be deployed around two weeks before the elections, which were scheduled for 18 June but have since been delayed. Under the UN mandate the troops will stay in the DR Congo for up to four months from the beginning of the polls. An operational plan, drawn up by a German Major-General, Karlheinz Viereck, will be discussed in the coming days and justice and home affairs ministers are expected to approve a 'joint action' today (27 April). The joint action will set out the cost of the mission to be picked up by the EU - expected to be around EUR 6.7 million. The rest of the cost will be picked up by Germany and France whose troops will make up the bulk of the force. Justice ministers will also approve the French Major-General Christian Damay as the commander of the force based in Kinshasa. Damay is a former regional commander of NATO's KFOR force in Kosovo. As well as supporting the UN's 17,000-strong peacekeeping force, the EU mission, dubbed EUFOR DR Congo, will protect civilians "under imminent threat of physical violence in the areas of its deployment". Article reports that after receiving authorisation from the UN Security Council on 25 April 2006 the EU agreed on a timetable for the deployment of its military mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The operation, which was to provide back-up for UN troops during presidential and parliamentary elections, was to be deployed around two weeks before the elections, which were scheduled for 18 June but had since been delayed. It was planned that the EU troops, the bulk of which were to be from Germany and France would stay in the DR Congo for up to four months from the beginning of the polls. |
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| Source Link | http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Security and Defence |
| Countries / Regions | Africa, Europe |
