Brussels, 16/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The state of progress of the EU's preparations for a possible CSDP military support mission for a strategy of recapturing North Mali by an African force will be on the agenda of the Foreign Affairs/Defence Council in Brussels on 19 November (see EUROPE 10721). The EU27 foreign affairs and defence ministers will take stock of the situation at a joint lunch which will be presided over by High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. The exchange of views will enable both groups of ministers to assess the detail of the draft civil crisis management concept (CMC) - the planning of which the Council had asked to be accelerated at the European Council in October (see EUROPE 10714) - and to show their support for a future operation that would be mainly focused on the training of Malian forces by around 250 military instructors.
“This is only the first stage as many more consultations will be needed. We will need to stay in contact in order to be sure that our decisions are perfectly coordinated with what ECOWAS, the AU and the UN are doing”, a diplomat said on Thursday (our translation).
The planning of an operational concept has progressed well - in close cooperation with ECOWAS which is working on setting up an African force of 3,300 men, with the African Union which has given its approval for this military force to be sent, and with the United Nations. The deployment of this African force is not for tomorrow. Subject to the adoption of a third United Nations Security Council resolution expected at the end of November, it will probably intervene during the course of 2013 - not before. No timetable has yet been fixed for the European intervention.
After the joint lunch, the Foreign Affairs Council will resume discussion on Mali and could adopt its conclusions. Since the beginning of the year the crisis in North Mali - which has fallen into the hands of armed militia and radical Islamist groups linked to AQMI - has created 450,000 refugees and displaced persons.
DRC. The ministers will hold an exchange of views on the worrying situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the M23 rebellion - supported by Rwanda - is raging. They will adopt specific conclusions. (AN/transl.fl)