Romanian Military Thinking

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Romanian Military Thinking ~ 4/2007
According to the reasons that generated the concept, the Battlegroups are expected
to be capable to respond with rapid and decisive action in support of the tasks listed
in Article 17 of the Treaty on European Union, known as the “Petersberg Tasks”
as well as those mentioned in the European Security Strategy 19 . The range of mission
is consistent with the objectives identified by the GAERC at its May 17, 2004 Meeting
and includes: humanitarian and rescue tasks; peacekeeping; task of combat forces
in crisis management, including peacemaking; joint disarmament operations; support
for third countries in combating terrorism; security sector reform as part of broader
institution building.
Therefore, through the creation and use concept, it results that European Battlegroups
can efficiently be used in autonomous operations, with limited scope, on short-term,
missions under a UN mandate included.
Another regional rapid reaction capability at the UN’s disposal is the African
Stand-by Force – ASF. In this respect, Article 5-2 of the Constitutive Act of the African
Union in 2002 establishes the Peace and Security Council, a “collective security and rapid
reaction system aiming at providing rapid and efficient reaction to crisis and conflict
situations in Africa”, through the African Stand-by Force. The general draft adopted by
the African chiefs of state stipulates the progressive establishment of ASF until 2010.
The essential contribution to ASF belongs to sub-regional organisations, the Economic
Community of West African States – ECOWAS, the Southern African Development
Community – SADC, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development – IGAD, the
Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa – EMCCA and to North Africa.
These regions will each house an ASF brigade. Except for ECOWAS and SADC, the
decision regarding ASF intervention mandate belongs to the African Union.
The African Standby Force is conceived for fulfilling the following mission types:
military support for a political mission; joint observer missions together with the UN;
independent observer missions; peacekeeping and preventive deployment missions;
support for complex and multidimensional missions (humanitarian tasks, disarmament
operations, operation as part of broader institutions building missions etc.), carried out
in the presence of certain hostile groups; emergency intervention, for example in case
of genocide acts, when the international community is behind schedule.
The ASF draft stipulates that each sub-regional organisation owns a stand-by brigade
formed by 3 500 – 6 500 troops distributed in the national armies of member states and
equipped with 170 military vehicles and 4 helicopters at least. At the African Union
level, ASF will have 300 – 500 military observers, 240 civil policemen and an undetermined
number of civil experts for the structures of human rights, humanitarian aid,
disarmament, reconstruction and others.
In the first stage, it is stipulated the establishment, until 2005, of a planning structure
at the level of both the African Union and the sub-regional organisations, providing
19 Declaration of European Military Capabilities, Military Capabilities Commitment Conference,
22 November 2004.