Army Story 4-23

Jerusalem Compassed with Armies

Clearly this single prophetic event will take place with great swiftness. We will post stories of any troop movements in the Middle East and any stories relating to increased military power among the nations.

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Rapid reaction force for Africa
David Charter in Addis Ababa

BRITISH troops will spearhead rapid reaction units that could be deployed to prevent genocide in African trouble spots, Tony Blair announced yesterday.

The Prime Minister committed British forces to a series of European "battle groups" that would be capable of responding within days to an emergency call from the African Union or from individual countries.

The 1500-strong units, combining combat and logistical expertise, will be ready to go into action from next year.

Mr Blair made the announcement with an eye on the growing conflict in the Sudanese region of Darfur, the ever-present fear of a repeat of the Rwandan genocide and the knowledge of Britain's success in bringing stability to Sierra Leone.

He was immediately attacked by the opposition Conservative Party for adding to the strain on overstretched British forces at a time of cutbacks in troop strength.

But Mr Blair gave a passionate defence of his commitment to Africa in a keynote speech in Ethiopia, calling the pledge the "one noble cause worth fighting for" of his prime ministership.

Downing Street said the idea of 10 "battle groups" had been agreed in principle by European Union member countries and would be finalised during Britain's presidency of the EU in the second half of 2005.

The battle groups will be separate from the European rapid reaction force, which is being set up for Europe, and will aim to hand over to AU forces on the ground within three months of being called in to handle a crisis.

Mr Blair's spokesman emphasised that membership of a battle group would not be compulsory and that individual nations would retain a veto over military deployment, although in practice he doubted whether an appeal from the AU would be denied.

The EU force would not necessarily wait for a United Nations mandate but would require approval from an emergency meeting of the European Council of Ministers, possibly at foreign or defence minister level.

There will be no head-quarters or joint training program, but forces with the necessary capability would be assembled appropriate to each emergency as it arose, recruited from those EU states willing to take part.

British troops are most likely to be drawn from rapid reaction units such as 16 Air Assault Brigade, 3 Commando Brigade and the army's mechanised infantry.

The model will be Britain's intervention in Sierra Leone in 1999 when British troops provided the vital bridgehead to restrain an outbreak of rebel fighting to buy time for the UN to build up its own forces.

The battle group is a trilateral proposal from Britain, France and Germany to enhance Europe's capability to react to international crises.

Criticising the plan, Conservative defence spokesman Nicholas Soames said: "It comes at an unfortunate time. When the Government is disbanding regiments and getting rid of manpower and capability, that he should impose another task on our already overstretched armed forces is a task too far."

Details of the new hit squads for African emergencies came during Mr Blair's 40-minute address to the second session of his Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa.

In it he set out a twin-track approach to progress in Africa with extra help from rich countries on aid and debt relief combined with greater commitment from the continent to better governance and less corruption.

As an example of this deal, Britain will train up to 20,000 African troops over the next five years.

The Times

Source

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