Abstract
Part of this IECEU project deliverable 3.5, The DR Congo Field Trip report, assesses the contributions of the EU CSDP missions Operation Artemis, EUFOR RDC, EUPOL and EUSEC to the overall security of the state of the DR Congo, in particular by taking into consideration the perspectives of mission personnel, representatives of the Congolese authorities, NGOs and other IOs. EU involvement started with the deployment of Artemis in 2003, and the study ends with the closure of EUSEC in July 2016. All EU missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been part of EU support for the transition and implementation of the 2002 Peace Agreement in the country. A key challenge was that the sheer size of the DRC, the lack of infrastructure and the non-permissive environment made it a very difficult and complex undertaking. The Congolese partner has been resistant to reform, and the EU has found it difficult to undertake its SSR (security-sector reform) initiatives successfully. Some informants even called the EU project generally a failure.Applying the methodology of the IECEU project, in particular DL 1.4. and DL 1.5, the success of the mission will be examined by describing the main capabilities deployed. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the mission will be analysed by looking at the attainment of both internal and external goals and their appropriateness. This combines both the findings of the field trip and the conducted interviews, as well as comprehensive desktop research. The findings were tested and refined at an expert round table held in Copenhagen on 31 October 2016 with relevant experts.