EU?s Impact on Congo Conflict Through Operation Artemis: An Early Attempt for Crisis Management Capacity?

Abstract

In June 2003, the European Union (EU) launched 2,000 peacekeeping troops to Ituri, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It was called Operation Artemis and it was EU’s first European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) operation to be deployed outside Europe and without the NATO assistance. The United Nations (UN) Secretary General called for an interim emergency multinational force (IEMF) to take over the UN’s peacekeeping operation in Bunia, Ituri, for three months until September 2003, when a larger UN force led by Bangladesh would be in place. France was determined to take the lead before it was certain that the IEMF would become an EU military operation. Supported by Britain, the Council adopted a joint action on 4 June, establishing the basis for an EU military operation in DRC. This paper intends to argue, whether Operation Artemis as a solution for Congo Conflict from EU’s perspective, sets a real turning point for crisis management capacity within the strengths and weaknesses of the outcomes of the operation and helped EU to accomplish the real goal and soul of crisis management capacity which lay upon Headline Goals 2003 and 2010 in which EU set the criteria for its crisis management facilities.