German Troops Into the Heart of Darkness
By Theo Sommer

Sometime next month the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, well have to decide whether or not to send 500 German soldiers to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They would be part of a European Union force of 1,250 to 1,500 men, which is to be deployed in the Congolese capital Kinshasa in order to safeguard the first democratic elections there in June.

It is a difficult decision. On the one hand, the Berlin government has repeatedly emphasized its readiness to shoulder "more world political responsibility." The former reluctance to send soldiers "out of area," meaning beyond the geographical confines of NATO, is a thing of the past. Since the early 1990s, the German army has ventured far outside of the German border. Currently, about 7,000 Bundeswehr soldiers are deployed in distant theaters: in the Balkans and in Afghanistan, around the Horn of Africa and in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Luftwaffe provides air transport for the African Union force trying to cope with the murderous janjaweed militias in Darfur. So why the hesitation to send troops to the Congo?

The Congo is a difficult country. Since reaching independence in 1960, the former Belgian colony has been wracked by civil war, foreign invasions, and rapacious tribal rebel-groups - in addition to being bled white during the 32-year rule of its greedy dictator, Joseph Mobutu. MONUC, the UN mission established in 1999, was unable to bring peace to the eastern part of the country.

The peace accord concluded in 2002 by President Kabila and various warlords is at best precarious. The parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for June 18 are supposed to complete the peace process and at long-last establish democracy in the war-torn country. Most of the parties, however, are hardly more than thinly-disguised militia groups. In their view, the ballot is only the continuation of civil war by other means; that is the reason why the EU has been called upon to guarantee the smooth course of the elections. It is also the reason why Germany's parliamentarians have deep qualms about the whole mission.

The ultimate composition of the force has not been decided yet. Roughly 500 French and 500 German soldiers will be joined by troops from Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Sweden, Austria, Belgium and Poland. Some countries will send just a handful of men, and where the troops will be stationed is not yet clear. In fact, only a small part will be deployed in Kinshasa. The bulk will be held on quick reaction alert over the horizon - off the coast on ships, in neighboring Gabon, or far away in Europe. This makes very little sense if deterrence is the purpose of the exercise. It makes a lot more sense if evacuation of foreign nationals in the event of post-election trouble is the priority task.

There are many vexing questions. How should 1,500 European soldiers succeed where 16,000 UN blue helmets have failed? What guarantee is there that the job, if it can be done at all, can be finished within four months? Is the Bundeswehr, unused to the tropics as it is, really the ideal force for the Congolese theater? How is it going to handle situations in which it has to confront belligerent child soldiers? Does it have enough French speakers? Is the long-distance coordination between the German Armed Forces Operational Command in Potsdam and the French "Forward Headquarters" in Kinshasa going to work?

Another aspect worries the German generals in particular. The Bundeswehr, already overstretched and underfinanced, is in the process of tripling the size of its area of responsibility in Afghanistan. The specialists now siphoned off to the Congo -- medical and logistics staff as well as communications and command capacity -- are badly needed in the Hindukush Mountains.

Chancellor Merkel wanted to do French President Jacques Chirac a favor when she agreed to the Congo mission. It remains to be seen whether she can overcome the doubts and misgivings rampant in the Bundestag about sending German troops into Africa's heart of darkness.

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Theo Sommer is the Executive Editor of The Atlantic Times and is a frequent contributor to AICGS.

This article originally appeared in the April 2006 edition of The Atlantic Times and also appeared in the April 12, 2006 AICGS Advisor.