EU Congo force is battling for hearts and minds

KINSHASA, July 26: They can leap out of helicopters, rescue hostages and they are armed to the teeth -- but few people in Congo understand what exactly a European military force is doing here, and many are suspicious.

Some 1,000 European Union soldiers have been sent to Democratic Republic of Congo to help provide security for Sunday's elections, the first multi-party polls in four decades in a vast country laid to waste by war, anarchy and corruption.

The EU soldiers will join a 17,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force -- the world body's biggest mission -- already stationed in the former Belgian colony. Another 1,200 EU reinforcements are stationed in nearby Gabon, just in case.

But the figures don't tell the whole story.

Of the 1,000 EU soldiers already in the capital Kinshasa, just 100 are combat troops -- a company of Spanish legionnaires.

''They are here to act as a deterrent and they can't do much else -- they haven't really got the tools to intervene properly,'' a Western diplomat told Reuters.

An EU official close to the mission was blunt.

''The objective is to have a very strong information campaign and stay out of trouble for four months before coming home ... They are trying to win a lot of hearts and minds. Not just in Congo -- at least 50 percent of their communications strategy is about winning over the European public,'' the official said.

The first part of that task may be tricky. In Kinshasa, home to 8 million mostly poor people, there is a lot of scepticism.

''The Europeans have paid for these elections so now they are making sure they get the result they want,'' said taxi driver Jean, as a Humvee full of Spanish legionnaires drove down a pot-holed street.

''HEARTS AND MINDS''

Sunday's presidential and parliamentary elections, which are costing the international community more than 400 million dollars, are meant to draw a line under a 1998-2003 war that has killed around 4 million people, mostly from hunger and disease.

Despite the formal end to the war, the bloodshed has not fully abated: in the remote eastern reaches, rebels and renegade soldiers prey on civilians, looting and killing. U.N aid workers say 1.7 million Congolese are displaced.

The potential for fresh election-related violence is high.

Some opposition parties have called for a boycott and the powerful Roman Catholic Church has called on its faithful to be ready to stay away unless alleged irregularities are corrected.

President Joseph Kabila is seen as the front-runner for the presidency, and many believe the EU backs his candidacy -- further poisoning some minds against the new arrivals.

The EU force will stay until the end of November. According to its mandate, the soldiers can only intervene if Congo's police and army lose control and the U.N. peacekeeping force asks them to help.

They are also restricted geographically and cannot operate in much of the east.

The force has put its military muscle on display, showing off high-tech surveillance drones at a ceremony in Kinshasa and it will fly French Mirage fighter jets over the city next week. But the show has so far failed to impress some. ''I've never understood what this force is doing. Are the elections taking place in Gabon?'' Christophe Mboso, one of Congo's 32 presidential candidates, said sarcastically during a televised debate last week.

''There are no (European Union) troops in Goma, Bukavu or Kisangani,'' he added, referring to towns in the lawless east.

FEARS OF MANIPULATION

The task would be challenging for even the most unified of military units but the joint French and German commanders of the EU force are also trying to coordinate troops from around 20 nations and juggle the expectations of EU members.

While Germany was keen to participate, its contribution was controversial in a country with a strong pacifist streak and it faced opposition in parliament. The mission is the first time Germany has taken a leadership role in an EU military operation.

Once in Congo, commanders had to deal with other snags from mundane headaches to potentially serious problems of perception.

Some German officers refused to stay in the Kinshasa camp, saying there weren't enough toilets for the number of men.

Anti-foreign sentiment is also mounting in Kinshasa where many feel the international community is supporting Kabila, who has signed a slew of multimillion dollar contracts with foreign mining firms.

The EU mission is struggling to win friends in the capital's run-down neighbourhoods, often anti-Kabila strongholds.

''Have these soldiers in the European force really come to protect the people and the electoral process or actually defend one individual?'' asked Father Hugo Mbenzi after a mass at St Joseph's church.

One thing is clear: the EU force does not plan to stay.

If none of the candidates wins more than 50 per cent on Sunday, there will be a run-off vote. Experts say a second round would not be held before the end of October and results would take many more weeks to be collected, confirmed and accepted by rivals who still have guns to bolster their ambitions.

So the EU force's mandate would run out around the time that a winner could be declared.

''It's not clear that the entire electoral process will be completed by then. Extending (the mission) would be very complicated,'' the EU official said.

Reuters