EU MILITARY OPERATION IN SUPPORT OF THE
UN MISSION IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (5900/07)
Letter from Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP, Minister
for Europe, Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the Chairman
With the Christmas recess fast approaching I
thought you might like to be aware that EUFOR RD Congo's mission—the
ESDP mission in support of MONUC—came to a successful end
on 30 November. It is fitting that this should come a matter of
days after the Supreme Court confirmation of the election result
and Vice President Bemba's public statement of his commitment,
notwithstanding his disappointment, to take part "in a strong
republican opposition in the interests of the nation". EUFOR
troops will be withdrawing from their bases in the DRC and the
Gabon between now and mid-December.
The Committees previously asked for details
of the make up of this force. I enclose a chart showing the breakdown
of troop contributions to the mission.
7 December 2006
Annex A
|
| Country | Troop Contribution
|
|
| France | 613
|
| Germany | 351
|
| Sweden | 50
|
| Netherlands | 40
|
| Portugal | 52
|
| Greece | 20
|
| Belgium | 71
|
| Poland | 97
|
| Spain | 90
|
| Finland | 11
|
| Italy | 55
|
| Turkey | 14
|
| Switzerland | 2
|
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Letter from Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP to the Chairman
As I mentioned in my letter of 7 March 2007[59]
the EU military mission to support the UN peacekeeping mission
(MONUC) during elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo was
completed in November 2006. This was formalised by Joint Action
5900/07, which was approved by Council on 20 February 2007. I
attach the Joint Action along with an Explanatory Memorandum.
I apologise for the delay in depositing the document in Parliament
in this case. As you know, we take our commitment to Parliamentary
Scrutiny extremely seriously and have made every effort to keep
you informed about this mission (letters 14 June 2006,[60]
9 August 2006,[61] 7
December 2006 and 7 March 2007). However, due to the administrative
nature of this Joint Action, we unfortunately did not immediately
recognise the need for Scrutiny. For your information, we are
amending our guidelnes in order to prevent this from re-occurring.
20 March 2007
59
Refers to "ATHENA Mechanism for Common Funding of ESOP Military
Operations". Back
60
Correspondence with Ministers, 40th Report of Session 2006-07,
HL Paper 187, p 172. Back
61
Correspondence with Ministers, 40th Report of Session 2006-07,
HL Paper 187, p 172. Back
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