When the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) confirmed Joseph Kabila as winner of the presidential election of 28 November 2011, the West proved reluctant to accept the election results. But scarcely a year later, the West is intent to turn the page on the matter and return to “business as usual” with Kabila’s reformed government—but at what cost?
Madeleine Albright once famously asked then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, "What’s the point of having this superb military you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?" Much the same could be demanded of the European Union’s nascent military formations, strong on paper but chimerical when it comes to actual deployment. These formations — officially called "battle groups" in a warlike impulse at odds with their record thus far — risk being nothing more than accessories for an organization that seeks to assume the trappings, if not always the responsibilities, of a global player. That risk becomes greater if the EU chooses not to use its military to ameliorate the latest increase in bloodshed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).