The European Union is to decide tomorrow what it can contribute to a UN-led peacekeeping force for strife-torn northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said today.
"I think that tomorrow we will be able to take a decision," he told reporters, giving no further details but adding: "I'm optimistic."
France is tipped to head the European contribution to the force, helped by countries including Nordic states, after a UN request for troops to help restore calm in the northeastern Ituri region, diplomats have said.
The UN Security Council has asked countries to participate in an emergency military operation in the Ituri region, which has continued to be riven by ethnic clashes despite the rest of DRC reaching a peace accord late last year to end more than four years of war.
A force of 1,000-2,000 troops is expected to be deployed under a UN mandate to the giant central African country.
EU foreign ministers first discussed the request for contributions to the peacekeeping force during a meeting in Brussels on May 19. Solana said at the time that the response from ministers had been "generally positive."
Germany had initially opposed the principle of sending an EU-organized stabilization force, saying that the DRC was too far away to justify strategic EU intervention.
But German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has lifted Berlin's opposition, and ambassadors from EU member states tasked military experts today with analyzing how such a force could be formed.
Mr Solana, attending a meeting of NATO and EU foreign ministers in Madrid, added that he did not expect the Alliance to contribute to the Congo force.
"I don't think so for the moment," he said.
An EU source meanwhile said that it was "highly likely" that the decision tomorrow will be positive.
"This will be an EU mission with France as the leading nations," said the source, requesting anonymity, adding that the UN had asked for up to 1,400 troops.
"At least half of it should be provided by the leading nation," he added, while noting that apart from the French "a few" other countries would be involved.
The source declined to say which countries other than France will be involved, but other sources say Belgium could provide planes and equipment, while Britain and Sweden could both provide troops.
AFP