Finland may have to organise DR Congo mission as holder of EU Presidency

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As the holder of the European Union Presidency in the second half of this year, Finland may have to organise a crisis management operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, if the elections in that country are postponed from June.
      Organising a military operation would be a considerable added burden for the Finnish EU Presidency.
      Finland takes over the rotating Presidency at the beginning of July. In practice, the holder of the Presidency would be required to organise the operation and coordinate its implementation with the United Nations.
     
The UN has initially inquired if the EU might send combat forces to DR Congo to support UN peacekeeping forces in order to secure the Parliamentary and Presidential elections to be organised in the summer.
      There are now about 17,000 UN soldiers in the country, who have been involved in clashes with local armed groups in different parts of the large country.
      The UN believes that EU forces could be deployed either in the capital Kinshasa, or they could be stationed outside the country, where they could be on alert to intervene if trouble breaks out.
     
An EU team will go to DR Congo next week to examine the possibilities for a crisis management operation.
      According to Pauli Järvenpää, the head of the defence policy section of the Ministry of Defence, Finland has asked the EU for a special clarification of whether or not a military operation would be the best option in DR Congo, or if police forces or election monitors might be more appropriate.
      If a crisis management operation begins in the country, the first to go would be a group of about 1,000 German paratroopers.
      It is possible that soldiers from other countries would also join - possibly even forces from Finland, the Ministry of Defence says.
     
Bringing an added twist to the issue is the disagreement over whether it is the President or government of Finland that should decide on the deployment of Finnish forces for crisis management missions.
      Police or election monitors would not pose any problems.
      Currently, Finland is assembling its first EU battle group, which would be formed together with Germany and The Netherlands. It would not be deployed in DR Congo, as it would not be operational before the beginning of 2007.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Dispute on new crisis mangement law escalates in Parliament (25.11.2005)
  Government proposes constitutional amendment on crisis management issue (2.12.2005)
  President Halonen accused of playing politics in crisis management issue (30.11.2005)

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