Brussels, 17/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - “The EU remains extremely concerned by the humanitarian impact of the crisis in the Central African Republic” but is today unable to deploy its military operation. This, in substance, is the conclusion reached by the Foreign Affairs Ministers, at their meeting on Monday 17 March.
The ministers were left with no choice but to delay the decision to launch the military operation EUFOR CAR, following the breakdown of the latest troop generation conference, which was held on Thursday 20 March and failed to plug critical logistical gaps (see EUROPE 11039).
In their conclusions, the ministers nonetheless stressed the “need to speed up work on preparations for the CSDP operation EUFOR CAR, in order to allow its rapid deployment, in line with the commitments of the European Union”. The ministers took the opportunity of their meeting to give their approval to the operation plan and the rules of engagement of this operation, which were approved by the Political and Security Committee (COPS) in late February.
At the meeting, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and the French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian repeated their request for the member states to provide a solution as quickly as possible to allow the operation to be launched. However, this request fell on deaf ears. The dossier could be discussed again at this week's European Council. (JK)