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EU to deploy its troops in Congo

The EU will play a major role in a UN-authorized multinational force being sent to northeastern Congo to help end brutal tribal fighting that has killed hundreds, deploying its new peacekeeping troops for the first time.

Seeking a larger international role, the EU decided Wednesday to send its peacekeeping force to the town of Bunia for three months as part of the French-led mission, which also will include troops from Africa, Canada and possibly Asia. EU ministers were expected to formally ratify the decision yesterday.

The EU peacekeeping force was declared ready last month, and its deployment comes as the 15-nation trading bloc seeks to increase its international influence with joint action in foreign affairs.

"This is something politically very important," said Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy representative. "It proves that the EU has the will to act."

Solana said he began organizing the force after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked the EU for assistance in Congo, where tribal fighting over the past month has killed more than 500 people.

France's UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere told a news conference at UN headquarters in New York that the force would comprise between 1,400 and 1,500 troops -- with France providing about 700 soldiers in Bunia and about 300 soldiers in Entebbe, Uganda, which will be a transport and logistics hub.

South Africa, Senegal and Canada will participate, he said. Diplomats said Brazil, Ethiopia and Pakistan also might send troops.

Germany will offer air transport and medical aid, but is unlikely to provide troops on the ground, the country's defense minister said.

French troops could start deploying this weekend, a French armed forces spokeswoman said in Paris. The troops first will head to Entebbe to establish a support base, Ensign Catherine Bellis said, adding it would take about 45 days for the force to be complete.

The Congo war erupted in August 1998 when Rwanda and Uganda sent troops into the country to back rebels seeking to oust then-President Laurent Kabila, whom they accused of undermining their security.

Since a 1999 cease-fire, most fighting has stopped, except in the resource-rich east.

The Europeans will relieve 750 beleaguered UN peacekeepers from Uruguay now in Bunia until Sept. 1, when a larger UN force led by Bangladesh is scheduled to arrive.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked the Security Council on Monday to increase the UN peacekeeping force in Congo from 8,700 to 10,800, to focus mainly on ending unrest in Bunia and surrounding Ituri province. If the council approves, that UN force in Bunia would be beefed up to 3,800 -- nearly triple the size of the force the French will lead.

"The international community has to take a stand in Bunia, as it has to take a stand more broadly for Congo," UN Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno told a news conference at UN headquarters.

Guehenno, who just returned from a trip to Congo that included a stop in Bunia, said the military situation must be stabilized in Bunia and surrounding Ituri province especially, but the international community must also support the creation of a government of national unity.

Without progress on both the military and political fronts, he said, there will be no peace and no "real exit strategy" for the international community.

Diplomats said the EU force would be backed by mechanized units and would operate under rules of engagement allowing it to defend itself and civilians.

The troops hope to secure Bunia and its airport and protect aid agencies and tens of thousands of refugees.

The 15-nation EU took over peacekeeping duties in Macedonia in March with about 400 troops, but received planning and logistical support from the NATO alliance, which includes the US.

The Congo mission is seen as a far bigger test of the union's effort to develop a military wing independent of NATO.

Last month, EU defense ministers declared that their rapid-reaction force -- a pool of 60,000 troops available at short notice for peacekeeping, humanitarian operations and regional crises -- was ready.
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