Union to pull out troops despite instability

The EU looks set to pull its troops out of the Democratic Republic of Congo at the end of this month, despite concerns that the country is still unstable after elections.

Defence ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday (13 November) agreed not to extend the mandate. "I think we will be able to have the withdrawal of the troops according to the schedule," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

Polish Defence Minister Rados?aw Sikorski told European Voice that the mission must be completed on time because Polish troops were needed elsewhere.

Poland has the third largest contingent of EU troops in Congo after Germany and France.

"I need my boys back home before the end of the year because we are expanding rapidly our mission in Afghanistan early in the New Year," he said.

"We feel we have fulfilled the mission, the elections have taken place," said Sikorski, echoing comments made by German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung.

But with final results of the presidential elections expected to come as late as 18 November the EU is being urged to stay on to prevent clashes between rival parties. Last week four people were killed in fights in the capital Kinshasa.

According to Pierre-Antoine Braud, from the EU Institute for Security Studies in Paris, the announcement of results may prompt further violence.

"You can have something very minor that can spill over," he said.

But Sikorski rejected accusations that the EU was preparing to cut and run: "We gave the troops that we were asked to give for the period that we were asked to give. We are completing the mission after successfully executing it."

The EU looks set to pull its troops out of the Democratic Republic of Congo at the end of this month, despite concerns that the country is still unstable after elections.

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