EU mission in Ukraine

The EU has initiated the deployment of an assistance mission to Ukraine to support the civilian dimensions of security sector reform: police, prosecution, justice, penal system. This will a large deployment for an initial period of two years.

It is certainly a good move. It should contribute to bring the civilian security system up to more acceptable standards. But the mission will face very serious obstacles within the Ukrainian security establishment. The officers, at every level, are used to practices that come from the old authoritarian times. That´s their level of comfort, their culture in dealing with the citizens. In addition, there is a lot of corruption built in the system. And corruption is a source of income in a country that is in serious economic difficulties and pays very low salaries.

With these difficulties in mind it will be important to closely monitor how the EU mission will respond to these challenges.

It will also be necessary to watch the performance of the mission leadership. 

A paralyzed Council

The UN Security Council has finally “unanimously” adopted another Resolution. On 28 April. Unfortunately, it is not on Ukraine, not even on Syria. It might however show that the Council is still alive.

The Resolution 2151 (2014) is on Security Sector Reform, the role of the UN in its implementation and the need for national ownership of the process.

I read it. It adds nothing to the debate. It states in grandiose terms what the UN missions have been performing for the last eight years or so.

Is the Security Council becoming a bit like a debating society?

Mali security sector

The EU Training Mission in Mali is moving in the right direction. The European instructors are now training the third Malian battalion and motivation is high.

As that happens, it is quite clear that the resources available in the donors´ Trust Fund for Peace and Security in Mali are not sufficient. USD 7 million is little money for the reorganisation of the national armed forces. And the outstanding pledges, for the next steps, are even smaller. It is necessary to call the attention of the international partners to the importance of this matter. The results of the EU training will be lost very quickly if financial resources are not made available to complement them.

The second point here is that Mali needs a mirror training programme for the national police and the gendarmerie. These two institutions are very weak. They have to be fully revamped. That requires trainers from outside and also resources. Both are missing at this stage.