1 300 EU troops for DRC
2006-03-16 21:42
Berlin - EU states are ready to send
1 300 troops to safeguard a June election in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, German government officials told a parliament
committee on Thursday, according to a source at the meeting.
The source said German foreign minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier and defence minister Franz Josef Jung told members of
the foreign affairs committee of the Bundestag that 10 European
Union states were prepared to send 300 troops to the country.
That would be in addition to the 500 troops that Germany and
France are each prepared to send on a mission to help protect
Congo's first free election since independence from Belgium in
1961, the source said.
"Several member states have given indications (of possible
troop contributions) that they will be able to substantiate when
a formal decision has been taken on the mission and when we
establish an operational headquarters," a spokesperson for EU
foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in Brussels.
She said she could not confirm troop numbers at this stage.
Solana would travel to Congo this weekend to discuss remaining
questions about the possible mission, she said.
The United Nations asked the EU in January to send a rapid
reaction force of some 800 soldiers to help beef up security for
the election.
The UN has a 17 000-strong peacekeeping force in
Congo, but says it is overstretched.