Brussels, 27/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - After silence procedure that ended on Thursday 23 March, the Council of Ministers of the EU approved the concept of possible European Union support for the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) during the electoral process. It also decided to launch military planning and preparation on that basis. Planning for police support is to be continued.
The EU operation will aim to provide targeted support for MONUC in good time, including: 1) the deployment of an advance element to Kinshasa of around 400 to 450 military; and 2) a battalion-size “on-call” force beyond the country's borders but rapidly deployable. The Council noted the availability of an EU operations headquarters at the German Armed Forces Operations Command in Potsdam for the planning and command of the military operation. The mission, to last four months, will be truly European as well as multinational, as many Member States have expressed their readiness to take part, several of them being prepared to supply troops. The Council is expected to adopt - in principle on 10 April - the joint action that will appoint the operations commander and activate the operations headquarters.