Depth of danger determined after arrival in Africa

Photo: Tairo Lutter

A task for Estonians headed to Central African Republic, within weeks, is disarming the opposing forces. At that, security of the troops themselves will mostly depend on ability to foresee danger, believes commander of the contingent, Lieutenant Colonel Sten Allik.

The standby-time of Estonian infantry platoon, ready for Central African Republic (CAR) mission for a month now, was up this Monday: at an EU-Central Africa summit, confirmation was given regarding EUFOR troops having been completed. While the touch-down times will be agreed during next week, Estonians are set to be among the first to fly towards Bangui, shortly after April 10^th.

All in all, the plain will seat 51 foot soldiers, 35 of whom make up the Scouts Battalion combat unit, the rest being leadership, technical support and interpreters. They’ll be taking four armoured Sisu vehicles weighing 15 tonnes each – the largest and weightiest machines of the peacekeeping mission.  

The EUFOR base will be set up in immediate vicinity of the capital’s airport and refugee camp. Next to our platoon, the 1,000 strong EU unit will mostly be made up of French and Eastern European soldiers: Poland has promised 140, Latvia and Romania 50, and Finland 30 servicemen.

Living conditions will be austere. To alleviate the heat of 40 degrees Celsius, coolers will be on in Estonians’ tents 24/7. Nothing will help with humidity, though. As the rain season has just now begun, till October half the days will be rainy, so the clothes will be wet the whole time.

The Estonians will be employed around the capital Bangui, a city with 350,000 inhabitants. According to Lieut. Col. Allik, the EU operation is aimed to take over part of African Union and French current domain, so these can move on to other areas of conflict. Also, arms need to be confiscated from Anti-balaka and Seleka groupings sowing violence.

According to Defence Forces, the platoon might guard the Bangui airport perimeter, protect humanitarian aid corridors, or act as strike teams. The decision on which the Estonians will do has not yet been made by the French commander of the operation.

Lieut. Col. Allik will not deny that the goal is rather to be a mobile unit, the platoon not keen just to stand watch. Still, the Estonians aren’t allowed to be used for extremely risky tasks like taming mass disturbances. According to experts talking to Postimees, it’ll probably be as it was in Afghanistan: due to competence of Estonians, they may be shifted towards the more complicated tasks.

One such being securing the roads. Namely, it is vital that convoys with humanitarian aid reach the capital from Cameroon 600 kilometres to the West. With lawlessness rampant in most of the state, Seleka rebels are trying to hijack the trucks, using roadblocks.

It is also important that Muslims currently in refugee camps could be sent to Chad, 500 kilometres towards the North. On the road there, they are threatened by revenge from Christians.

How far from the base in Bangui the Estonians would venture, Lieut. Col. Allik does not know. Even this, however, faces hurdles. Due to the rain season, most roads can only be travelled by foot or moped. «Our heavy machines are still meant for solid roads, otherwise we’ll drown them there,» admits Lieut. Col. Allik. Such roads out of Bangui number... only one.

The third option would be strike team action within Bangui’s 67 square kilometres. «Typically, strike teams are sent as rise on tensions is spotted somewhere, so there needs to be a show of force to keep it from escalating.»

Things usually get stirred up as locals are being lynched and the community demands revenge. Though the Estonians will not be used in mass disturbances, there exists the dark scenario of being caught in the middle.

Lieut. Col. Allik also admits that the popular picture of short machetes flashed in the streets is deceptive. As the borders will not hold, loads of firearms have been smuggled into the country. «They’ve found everything, from knives to mortars,» said he. The heaviest weapons are mostly locked away, not needed against civilians.

As a rule, foreign troops don’t face gun barrels. The French soldiers have been in CAR for decades, and as opposed to Afghanistan, peacekeepers are viewed as something natural. Locals use weapons to steal from one another, to maraud, or to lynch those of other faith.

True, there are the exceptions – like on December 9^th, last year, as a French unit on guard in Bangui cot a call from locals harassed by a Seleka rebel commander. Peacekeepers demanded that the rebels surrender their arms. The latter opened fire, two French soldiers were shot dead.

What exactly is allowed in cases like that is classified; for self-protection, however, shots may be fired. Among other things, the platoon is equipped with non-lethal means such as rubber bullets.

Lieut. Col. Allik said the Estonians aim to keep things from going that far. «A large part of our job is talking to the locals. The need goes both ways: for locals to realise why we are there, and us wanting to know how best to help.»

Lieut. Col. Allik underlines that the Afghani behaviour patterns aren’t valid in Central Africa. «For instance: we are accustomed to treat ultra-expressiveness as direct danger, but for them this is the usual way to express oneself, that’s all they know,» he said.

Lieut. Col. Allik harbours no illusions that the conflict might be over before the Estonian mission deadline. The hatred between Christians and Moslems, once living peacefully side by side, has taken on extreme propositions. «Often, a notion like compromise just doesn’t exist.»

Lieut. Col. Allik hopes that, in four months, there will be less weapons in CAR to shed blood with, and that the locals will have increased confidence to go vote in February. «Meanwhile, it cannot be ruled out that the present chaos will persist,» admitted the man.

By the Riigikogu, a mandate for a one-off CAR mission has been granted till the end of August.

Central African Republic

•    In March last year, Seleka Muslim rebels mostly from neighbouring countries organised a coup d’état in CAR, and set a Muslim president in office. The president disbanded Seleka, but rebel groupings splintered and, for selfish gain, started raping, killing and looting in the country.

•    To pay them back, the mostly Christian Anti-balaka movement was activated, starting to purge the land from Moslems. Lynching civilians and burning villages became the norm; over two years, tens of thousands of people have perished.

•    As the French and African Union soldiers intervened last December, they did succeed to drive Seleka rebels out of the capital Bangui, but they lack the strength to stop the violence outside the capital. The goal of the 6-months EUFOR operation is to take control of Bangui, confiscate weapons from both sides, and protect refugees and humanitarian aid convoys. At the same time, some of the nearly 6,000 African Union soldiers could move into lawless regions where civilians are still being killed en masse.

•    While the conflict appears to be religious, the reason is extreme poverty and non-existent authority of the state, not ensuring security not allowing economy to function. Increasingly, young men join one of the opposing rebel groupings in hopes of a better life. Of the 4.6 million inhabitants of CAR, close to a quarter have left the country, 700,000 are displaced internally. In addition to humanitarian catastrophe, the state is on the verge of economic collapse, as the Moslems killed and driven out of the country were an important economic engine as cattle farmers and merchants.

Forces involved

•    About 3,000 Seleka rebels, mostly Moslems

•    An unknown amount of Anti-balaka rebels

•    6,000 African Union soldiers

•    2,000 French troops

•    About a thousand EUFOR operation soldiers (starting next week)

•    About 12,000 UN soldiers (starting September)

Death-toll since 2012

•    Tens of thousands of civilians

•    Over 500 Seleka rebels

•    About 30 Anti-balaka rebels

•    33 African Union peacekeeping mission soldiers

•    2 French soldiers