Georgian troops have returned home from the completed European Union peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, the country's first substantial troop deployment to Africa and to an EU military mission.
The EU mission formally ended on March 15, and the Georgian soldiers were sent home with a ceremony at the airport at Bangui, where they had been based. "During the mission, the Georgian contingent was tasked with providing security in the operational area," the Georgian Ministry of Defense said in a press release. "They carried out infantry and motorized patrolling within their area of responsibility. The Georgian peacekeeping unit accomplished the mission successfully and came back home without casualties."
Georgia was the second-largest troop contributor (behind France) to the 750-soldier EU force, and regional analyst Thierry Tardy said that the mission was, at least by the standards of its limited mandate, a success. "When measured against its restricted mandate, EUFOR RCA has been a successful mission" and "has contributed to the stabilisation of the situation in its area of deployment," Tardy wrote, while noting that "even if the general security situation has improved in the area of deployment, large-scale human rights violations have taken place in Bangui, violent groups have not been disarmed, and many trouble spots remain."
For Georgia, as with its deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, the goal was to show Europe that it was a reliable partner.
"You were given a very difficult mission by your country, a mission for providing stability and peace in another state. We are very proud that Georgia is present on the African continent as well. This means that our country stands beside the civilized world,” said Defense Minister Mindia Janelidze at a December ceremony sending off a new battalion of Georgian soldiers to the CAR. "Your participation in the African mission is not only a peacekeeping act, this is a service for your country because your work gets us closer to NATO’s armed forces, the EU and world leading countries."
Turkey also sent a small contingent of soldiers to the EU mission, albeit eight months after they were asked and when the mission was already half over.
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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