EU sends more troops into Congo
By Lisbeth Kirk
The EU is moving extra 400 troops from neighbouring Gabon to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to quell new violence.
The unrest erupted in the capital Kinshasa on Monday (21 August) after the results of the first free national vote in more than fourty years in the former Belgian colony were published.
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President Joseph Kabila scored a majority of 45 percent of the more than 16 million votes cast in last month's historical election, while vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba got 20 percent. They will now be the two finalists for the 29 October second-round presidential election.
On Monday, the EU force (EUFOR) had to rescue two dozen foreign ambassadors after the diplomats found themselves in a combat zone within the capital, German news agency Deutsche Presse Agentur reported.
According to a UN press release, secretary general Kofi Annan has had telephone contact with the two leading candidates urging them to meet and asking them to end the violence.
The extra EU forces will join 1,000 EU troops and more than 17,000 UN peacekeepers already in the country.
They oversaw the election on 30 July in an operation that has already cost the international community more than $400m (€312m) to administer.
EU ministers agreed back in April to engage in the UN-led protection of the Congolese election. The common costs of the EU military operation for a four-month period was set at €16,700 000.
The EU force is drawn from 20 different European countries. Two thirds of the troops come from France and Germany, while the other third comes from other member states and Turkey.
The equipment and personnel, a total of 3000 troops, has been evenly divided between Kinshasa, a pre-positioned force in Gabon and strategic reserves in Europe.
A German lieutenant general Karlheinz Viereck conducts the military planning, operating from the headquarters in Potsdam, while French major general Christian Damay is leading the EU forces on the ground.