CFSP Statement
EU launches police mission in Kinshasa, DRC

Date of release : 18-04-2005

Policy area : General Affairs and External Relations

The Presidency is pleased to announce the launch of a European Union police mission, EUPOL Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as part of Europe’s security and defence policy. The mission supports the political reform process in Africa.

Scheduled to end in late 2005, the mission consists of roughly 30 members with the mandate of carrying out monitoring, supervisory and counselling actions with the Integrated Police Unit (IPU) in Kinshasa. The IPU is a Congolese police unit whose mission it is to protect governmental institutions. The Presidency recalled that EUPOL Kinshasa is complementary to the IPU training project, now being finalised, under the aegis of the European Development Fund.

The mission’s activities aim to strengthen the management capacities of the Unit as well as that of its operational groups in carrying out their tasks.

The Presidency stressed that EUPOL Kinshasa fits into the continuity of the European Union’s resolute support for the process of strengthening domestic security and bolstering the institutions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the prospect of developing the Rule of Law in the country.