UN/EU: There is a need for closer co-operation on peacekeeping and crisis management between the European Union and the United Nations, according the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Lieut Gen Jim Sreenan.
Lieut Gen Sreenan believes EU member-states have much to contribute, especially on the technical side.
In the past, European countries provided the bulk of UN peacekeepers but today only about 10 per cent come from European states. It may come as a surprise that Ireland boasts the largest contingent from any EU member-state currently engaged in peacekeeping under direct UN command. There are 450 Irish peacekeepers in Liberia.
This reflects Ireland's strong UN commitment but also the fact that many of its EU partners are taken up with NATO duties, or have forces deployed in places like Afghanistan or Iraq, or on UN-mandated duty in the Balkans. "Everybody is stretched at the moment, there is so much going on," says Lieut Gen Sreenan. But Ireland's Army chief believes small but technically sophisticated EU contingents can be critical to the success of a UN peacekeeping mission by providing short-term expertise in planning, command and control, logistics and communications.
This week he hosted a two-day seminar in Dublin, attended by EU and UN defence and security chiefs, diplomats and academics, to discuss closer co-operation. The head of UN Peacekeeping, Mr Jean Marie Guéhenno, and a top EU security official, Mr Peter Feith, were keynote speakers. Last September, the EU and UN issued a joint declaration in this regard. "Synergy" is the buzzword of the day and the Dublin conference was aimed at putting it into practice.
Lieut Gen Sreenan points out that, although the UN has 60,000 peacekeepers on duty in different parts of the world, demands are growing due to the "very happy situation" that peace is breaking out in so many places.
He holds up "Operation Artemis" in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year as a prime example of EU-UN cooperation. The EU deployed a 1,500 -strong force into the Bunia area. The French-led EU force, which had some Irish officers in the supporting HQ, stabilised the situation and handed over to a strengthened UN force.
The commander of the EU force, Gen Bruno Neveux, participated in the Dublin seminar. The EU could also have a role in rescuing or extracting a UN force in difficulty. Asked what role the EU's much-hyped Rapid Reaction Force could play with the UN, Lieut Gen Sreenan says the title is a "misnomer".
Describing the RRF as a "60,000-person paper force" he says assembling it will be a slow process. However, he favours a 1,500-member military group which would be available at 10 days' notice for UN duty.
On the thorny subject of Iraq, he says the prospect of Irish military personnel serving there is "not something that is on the horizon at the moment", although Irish soldiers have served in Iraq before, under the UN flag.
Commenting on the EU's Security Strategy, produced last December, he points out that the "primacy of the UN is up there in lights". As of May 1st, of course, there are 10 new EU member-states, which were all represented at the City West seminar. Lieut Gen Sreenan says many of them are looking to Ireland as a model, not just in economic terms but also for pointers on peacekeeping.