Operation Artemis: the shape of things to come?

Abstract

Operation Artemis, carried out in the Democratic Republic of Congo from June to September 2003 on the request of the United Nations, was the European Union's first independently launched military operation and its first operation in Africa. France, supported by Britain, was the driving political force working to secure EU engagement as well as the main military contributor to the operation. This article argues that Franco–British cooperation has been the main engine in the development of both EU military cooperation in general and of the EU's role in African security. Moreover, it argues that Operation Artemis will set a precedent for future EU autonomous operations.

Notes

See for instance Hans-Christian Hagman, European Crisis Management and Defence: The Search for Capabilities, Adelphi Paper 353, International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2002.

Rachel Utley, ‘“Not to do less but to do better…”; French Military Policy in Africa’, International Affairs, Vol.78, No.1, 2002, pp.129–46.

Dominique Moisi, ‘Intervention in French Foreign Policy’, in The United States and the Use of Force in the Post-Cold War Era, Aspen Strategy Group Report, Washington DC: The Aspen Institute, 1995; Adrian Treacher, French Interventionism – Europe's Last Global Player?, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003.

Mel McNulty, ‘France's Role in Rwanda and External Military Intervention: A Double Discrediting’, International Peacekeeping, Vol.4, No.3, Autumn 1997, p.27; Simon Massey, ‘Operation Assurance: The Greatest Intervention That Never Happened’, Journal of Humanitarian Assistance, posted at www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb 15 Feb. 1998; Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, The Congo from Leopold to Kabila, London: Zed, 2002, pp.214–52; Philippe Leymarie, ‘La politique française du Rwanda en questions’, Le Monde Diplomatique, No.534, Sept. 1998; Treacher (see n.3 above), pp.132–41.

William Shawcross, Deliver Us From Evil: Warlords & Peacekeepers in a World of Endless Conflict, London: Bloomsbury, 2000, pp.119–20; Gérard Prunier, The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide, London: Hurst [1995], 3rd impression 1998, pp.100–108.

David Buchan and Bruce Clark, ‘UK and France Set Up Air Defence Unit’, Financial Times, 18 Nov. 1994. For an overview of the initiatives see Eric G. Berman and Katie Sams, Peacekeeping in Africa: Capabilities and Culpabilities, Geneva: UNIDIR, March 2000.

Ståle Ulriksen, A Central African Web of Wars. The Conflicts in the DR Congo, Training for Peace report, Oslo: NUPI, 2004.

For details of the DRC conflict, see reports from the International Crisis Group, accessed at www.crisisweb.org.; see also Olivier Lanotte, Republique Democratique du Congo: guerres sans frontiers: de Joseph-Desiree Mobuto a Joseph Kabila, Bruxelles: Groupe de recherché et d'information sur la paix et la securité.

Uganda in Eastern DRC: Fueling Political and Ethnic Strife, Human Rights Watch report Vol.13, No.2 (A), March 2001, accessed at www.hrw.org/reports/2001/drc.

‘RDC: à l'appel de l'ONU, l'armée française se prépare à stopper les massacres dans l'Ituri’, Le Monde, 21 May 2003.

‘DR of Congo: Annan Urges International Response to Violence in Bunia’, UN News Service, 10 May 2003.

Statement by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, New York, 10 May 2003, accessed at www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=341.

‘Violence Continues in Northeast DR of Congo as Rebels Vie for Bunia – UN’, UN News Service, 13 May 2003.

‘Women and Children Killed and Injured in DR Congo Clashes’, Ageuce France Presse (AFP), 14 May 2003.

‘UN Security Council Endorses Annan's Call for Emergency Force in DRC’, AFP, 16 May 2003.

Common Position 2003/319/CFSP See Official Journal of the European Union, L115, 9 May 2003, pp.87–9.

Ahto Lobjakas: ‘EU: Official Declares Rapid Reaction Force Operational, If Not Rapid’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 20 May 2003.

Gorm Rye Olsen, ‘EU and Conflict Management in African Emergencies’, International Peacekeeping, Vol.9, No.3, Autumn 2002, pp.87–102.

‘Rede von Bundesaussenminister Fischer vor dem Deutschen Bundestag zur Beteiligung bewaffneter deutscher Streitkräfte in der Demokratischen Republik Kongo, 18.06.2003’, accessed at Auswärtiges Amt at www.auswaertiges-amt.de.

Council Joint Action (2003/423/CFSP) of 5 June 2003 on the European Union military operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Official Journal of the European Union, L143, pp.50–52.

Council Decision (2003/432/CFSP) of 12 June 2003 on the launching of the European Union military operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Official Journal of the European Union, L147, p.42.

Catriona Gourlay, ‘EU Operations Update: Past, Present and Future’, European Security Review, No.19, October 2003, accessed at www.isis-europe.org.

Reported in a lecture by Pieter Cornelis Feith, Deputy Director-General ESDP, Council of the European Union, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Brussels, 15 Oct. 2003.

Saferworld and International Alert, Strengthening Global Security through Addressing the Root Causes of conflict: Priorities for the Irish and Dutch Presidencies in 2004, February 2004, p.10.

‘Une mission de reconnaissance française est arrivée en RDC’, Le Monde, 20 May 2003.

Ibid.; ‘RDC: à l'appel de l'ONU, l'armée française se prépare à stopper les massacres dans l'Ituri’, Le Monde, 21 May 2003.

Julie de Rubiana, ‘Quand l'Union fait la force…’, Terre Info Magazine No.148, Oct. 2003.

Nicholas Fiorenza, ‘EU Force Seeks New Mission After Congo’, Defense News, 8 Sept. 2003, p.42.

‘La 9 s'exporter’, Terre Info Magazine No.145, June 2003.

‘Montée en puissance d'Artemis’, Terre Info Magazine No.146, July–Aug. 2003.

Dominick Donald, ‘Neutrality, Impartiality and UN Peacekeeping at the Beginning of the 21st Century’, International Peacekeeping, Vol.9, No.4, Winter 2002, pp. 21–38.

Somini Sengupta, ‘Terror Persists as Congolese Await U.N. Force’, New York Times, 4 June 2003.

Somini Sengupta, ‘Congo War Zone Awaits French Troops Skeptically', New York Times, 6 June 2003; and ‘French Soldiers Arrive in Congo With a Tough Mission’, New York Times, 7 June 2003.

Emily Wax, ‘French Peacekeepers Arrive in Congo’, Washington Post, 7 June 2003; James Astill, ‘French Soldiers Begin Patrols in Wartorn Congo’, The Guardian, 7 June 2003.

Emily Wax, ‘Congolese Militias Trade Heavy Fire’, Washington Post, 8 June 2003; Somini Sengupta, ‘Ethnic Militias in Congo Battle for Control of a Town’, New York Times, 8 June 2003; James Astill, ‘And then the cry went up: “Where are the French?”’, The Observer, 8 June 2003.

James Astill, ‘French Troops Take First Steps in War-torn Congo’, The Guardian, 9 June 2003.

‘Les premières troupes de la force internationale sont en RDCongo’, AFP/Figaro, 10 June 2003; Somini Sengupta, ‘Mortal Combat Rages, but “Mortal Kombat” Rules’, New York Times, 10 June 2003.

Somini Sengupta, ‘Won't Disarm Congo Armies, U.N. Force Declares’, New York Times, 11 June 2003.

Thonier said, ‘C'est une vraie mission de soldat. Je la résumerai en deux verbes: rassurer et protéger. Je ne resterai pas l'arme au pied!’, cited in ‘Les militaires français ont pris position dans l'est du Congo’, Le Monde, 11 June 2003.

Emily Wax, ‘Congolese Tribe Uses Abductions To Fuel Town's Reign of Terror’, Washington Post, 14 June 2003.

‘French Troops in Congo Clash’, BBC News, 14 June 2003; Julie de Rubiana, ‘Force de Frappe’, Terre Info Magazine, No.147, Sept. 2003.

‘French Patrol Exchanges Fire With Militia Near Congo Town’, Reuters/New York Times, 15 June 2003.

‘Peacekeepers Kill Two in DR Congo’, BBC News, 16 June 2003.

‘French General Orders Militia to Give Up Town in Congo’, Associated Press/New York Times, 22 June 2003; ‘DRC: International Force Sets Bunia Town Boundaries’, IRIN, 25 June 2003.

‘Congo Fighters Withdraw’, Associated Press/New York Times, 26 June 2003.

Julie de Rubiana, ‘Force de Frappe’, Terre Info Magazine No.147, September 2003

‘Svenska soldater i strider där 20 fiender dödades’, Expressen [Stockholm], 21 Nov. 2003.

Ibid.

Thierry Tardy, ‘French Policy Towards Peace Support Operations’, International Peacekeeping, Vol.6, No.1, Spring 1999, pp. 55–78.

International Crisis Group, Congo Crisis: Military Intervention in Ituri, Africa Report No.64, 13 June 2003, accessed at www.crisisweb.org.

Ituri: Unkept Promises? A Pretense of Protection and Inadequate Assistance, MSF Report, 25 July 2003.

‘Kongo-Kinshasas Nordosten – ein Unruheherd’, Neue Züricher Zeitung, 15 July 2003.

As termed by Nicholas Fiorenza (see n.28 above).

Francois Grignon, ‘The Artemis Operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Lessons for the Future of EU Peace-keeping in Africa’, paper presented at The Challenges of Europe–Africa Relations: An Agenda of Priorities, Lisbon, 23–24 October 2003.

K.E. Jørgensen, ‘Western Europe and the Petersberg Tasks’, in Jørgensen, European Approaches to Crisis Management, The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1997.

Grignon (see n.54 above).

See for instance Lutz Herden, ‘Rückkehr der alten Krieger’, Friedenspolitischer Ratschlag, posted on 24 June 2003 at www.uni-kassel.de/fb10/frieden/regionen/Kongo/herden.html.

Alvaro Vasconcelos, ‘Should Europe Have a Policy on Africa?’, Winrich Kühne, Guido Lenzi and Alvaro Vasconcelos, WEU's Role in Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution in Sub-Saharan Africa, Chaillot Papers No.22, Paris: WEU Institute for Security Studies, Dec. 1995, pp.11–12.

Ibid.

‘Council Decision No.3/2003 of the ACP–EC Council of Ministers of 11 December 2003 on the Use of Resources from the Long-term Development Envelope of the Ninth EDF for the Creation of a Peace Facility for Africa’, Official Journal of the European Union, L345, p.108–11.

Franco–British summit, ‘Strengthening European Cooperation in Security and Defence’, London, 24 Feb. 2003.

Ibid.

For details, see Ulriksen's article on EU military capabilities in this volume.