EUFOR

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EUFOR Roundel.svg

The acronym EUFOR (from European Union Force ) denotes temporary multinational military units of the European Union that are deployed within the framework of the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP). Missions using naval forces are known as EU NAVFOR (also abbreviated EUNAVFOR ).

guide

The commanders of an EUFOR mission discuss the tactics. The EU flag is clearly recognizable as a shoulder badge

At the strategic level, the political - and thus the highest - leadership is carried out by the Political and Security Committee (PSK) of the EU. Militarily, responsibility at this level rests with an Operation Commander . Since there is no permanent EU command structure, this is appointed for the respective mission from one of the nations involved in the operation. The EU provides three options for setting up a staff to support him in planning and leadership:

  • To set up an Operation Headquarters (OHQ), five member states have defined elements within their military command organization that serve as the core for an operational command staff that is growing up through international reinforcement forces. France has its headquarters in Mont Valérien, Paris, the United Kingdom in Northwood, Germany in Potsdam, Italy in Rome and Greece in Larissa. Examples of the use of this option were the EUFOR RD Congo under the leadership of the Bundeswehr Operations Command as the German OHQ or EUFOR Tchad / RCA, where the French OHQ was activated.
  • A second option for setting up an OHQ is to use the NATO command structure as part of the Berlin Plus Agreement. It is currently used in the context of Operation Althea, in which the EUFOR forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina are led by the DSACEUR as Operation Commander in the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons as OHQ.
  • A third option is to use the EU Operation Center . This has been in Brussels since January 2007 and is therefore in close proximity to the key political bodies of the EU. Once activated, the EU Operation Center will grow from a core staff of eight officers through reinforcement by international personnel to the required extent. The aim is to start planning within five days with 89 civilian and military forces in order to be able to carry out an operation with full personnel after 20 days.

For leadership at the operational level, the Force Commander with a joint armed forces and multinational staff, the Force Headquarters (FHQ), is also determined separately for each mission. He and his command post are usually in or in the immediate vicinity of the operational area.

Calls

Operation in Macedonia 2003 (Concordia)

Operation Concordia was used to monitor the Ohrid Framework Agreement in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and began on March 31, 2003. The operation was the result of and a first test of the strategic security partnership between NATO and the EU agreed in December 2002 . The EU took over the NATO mission "Allied Harmony", while NATO continued to provide support in the operational area. Operation Concordia involved 350 lightly armed soldiers from 25 countries and was completed on December 15, 2003. Resolution 1371 of the United Nations Security Council formed the basis of this commitment.

Operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2003 (Operation Artemis)

From June to September 2003 around 2000 mostly French EUFOR soldiers were deployed in Bunia to support the UN MONUC mission in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . The Operation Artemis had the objective of improving the security situation in the city after riots broke out there and needed the UN soldiers on the ground support. The deployment was based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1484 of May 30, 2003 and the EU Council resolution of June 12, 2003.

Operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Operation Althea, EUFOR in BiH)

Operation Althea soldiers

With the end of SFOR on December 2, 2004, the European Union also took over military tasks with Operation Althea as part of the monitoring and implementation of the Dayton Agreement in Bosnia-Herzegovina . The size of the units under EU command initially largely corresponded to the last status of the SFOR mission. In 2007 there was a massive restructuring and troop reduction.

Operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2006 (EUFOR RD Congo)

Bundeswehr soldier during the EUFOR mission

The idea for an EU military operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to support the UN mission MONUC , which is already there before and during the 2006 elections , came from the United Nations. The EU Council approved a corresponding concept on March 23, 2006. The mandate was granted by UN Security Council Resolution 1671 of April 25, 2006. Two days later the delegation was decided by the EU Council. On June 1, 2006, the German Bundestag approved the deployment of 780 Bundeswehr soldiers as part of the EUFOR RD Congo mission , which comprised a total of around 2,400 soldiers. For the most part, the Bundeswehr was stationed in the Congolese capital Kinshasa and in Libreville / Gabon as part of the reserve, the so-called “Over the horizon” force . The rest of the armed forces , including the French, were deployed directly in the Congo.

Political control of the operation was taken over by the Political and Security Committee of the EU , while the military control was ensured by the command and control of the Bundeswehr in Potsdam as the EU headquarters. The commander of this operation was the German Lieutenant General Karlheinz Viereck , the German contingent led Flotilla Admiral Henning Bess .

The costs for Germany amounted to 56 million euros , the total costs were 428 million US dollars. The mission was ended on November 30, 2006 by the Council of the European Union as planned.

Evaluation of the operation

The evaluation of the mission can be described as ambivalent. In the Congo, the EU carried out an autonomous and multinational planned military operation in support of the United Nations for the first time. The operation went off without a hitch, because any problems discussed in advance, such as any necessary fighting or confrontation with child soldiers, did not arise. The operation is therefore considered a success overall.

However, there were planning problems beforehand, which the EU was unable to cope with due to a lack of experience in deployment in Africa. There was insufficient coordination between the participating states. In addition, there were disputes about the number of soldiers to be deployed, the locations and the location of the headquarters. According to Lars Colschen, the deployment was therefore not convincing evidence that the EU was already in a position to make a significant contribution to peace.

Operation in Chad and the Central African Republic (EUFOR Tchad / RCA)

EUFOR Tchad / RCA was a bridging mission from March 2008 to March 2009 in support of the UN mission MINURCAT in the Central African Republic and in Chad with around 3700 soldiers from 14 European countries. Her mission was to improve the security situation for the people living there, especially refugees and internally displaced persons , for personnel who provided humanitarian aid , as well as the implementation of humanitarian aid and the protection of personnel, equipment and facilities of the United Nations .

Operation in the Horn of Africa (EU NAVFOR Somalia - Operation Atalanta)

The frigate Victoria escorted a convoy in the Gulf of Aden

Since December 2008, the EU NAVFOR Somalia has carried out Operation Atalanta to protect humanitarian aid supplies to Somalia, to protect the free sea and to combat piracy off the Somali coast in the Horn of Africa . A special feature of this mission is that it is the first naval operation of the EU.

See also

literature

  • Guide to history: Bosnia-Herzegovina. 2nd revised edition. On behalf of the Military History Research Office, ed. by Agilolf Keßelring. Paderborn, Munich, Vienna, Zurich, Ferdinand Schöningh 2007, 216 pages, ISBN 978-3-506-76428-7
  • History guide: Democratic Republic of the Congo. 2nd revised edition. On behalf of the Military History Research Office, ed. by Bernhard Chiari and Dieter H. Kollmer. Paderborn, Munich, Vienna, Zurich, Ferdinand Schöningh 2006, 216 pages, ISBN 3-506-75745-8

Web links

Commons : EU Military Operations  - Image Collection

Individual evidence

  1. ^ EU Operations Center. In: DSDP Structures and Instruments. European Union, archived from the original on January 25, 2012 ; Retrieved on January 22, 2015 (English, options for leading EUFOR missions at the military-strategic level).
  2. ↑ Lars Colschen: German foreign policy, Munich 2010, pp 144-145.