Foreign ministers of the EU on Friday unanimously endorsed the efforts of individual member states to provide military support to the beleaguered Kurds in northern Iraq, and welcomed attempts by US forces to head off an escalation of the humanitarian crisis there.
Called back from their summer vacations by EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, the union’s foreign affairs chief, the top diplomats of the 28-nation bloc had been seeking a common response to the latest escalation of the crisis in Iraq, in which the semi-autonomous Kurdish north has been threatened by extremists of the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Foreign Minister of France Laurent Fabius urged Europe “to mobilize itself.”
Photo: Reuters
France has already said that it would supply arms to the Kurds. European opinion on how to respond has been particularly inflamed by the plight of thousands of Yazidis and Christians who have been driven from their homes by threats from Islamic State fighters.
A statement on the ministers’ conclusions on Iraq contained no mention of coordinated military assistance. Rather, it said that they would continue to work on providing humanitarian aid and welcomed “the decision by individual member states to respond positively to the call by the Kurdish regional authorities to provide urgently needed military materiel.”
“The EU welcomes the US efforts to support the Iraqi national and local authorities in their fight against ISIL and recognizes international and European responsibility to cooperate with Iraq in our common fight against terrorism,” the union statement said.
In addition to the French, the Czechs and Italians were also said to be preparing military aid for Iraq and British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Philip Hammond has said that Britain would look “favorably” on Iraqi requests for arms.
The meeting on Friday came a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that he had agreed to relinquish power after days of pressure from the US and of rumors in Baghdad that a military coup was in the offing.
Ashton, speaking after the meeting, praised the “very statesmanlike way” in which al-Maliki had stepped aside to allow progress toward a political solution.
While the meeting did not yield any actual commitments on military aid, a senior EU official characterized the unanimous decision to back such aid from individual members as a victory — and a necessary one at that, given that the union itself has no military forces of its own.
“I don’t know if there’s any precedent,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in accordance with protocol, “but it’s very important, and even up until today some member states had reservations” about providing arms.
The agreement was testament to the fact that “nobody underestimates the threat from ISIL,” he said. “The Baghdad authorities were very eager that we support the Kurds.”
Despite the united front on Friday, EU members regularly struggle to agree on a coordinated response to military threats. One obstacle is Germany, which remains reluctant to test the limits of its policy prohibiting the export of weapons to conflict zones.
German Minister for Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in an afternoon news conference here that the question of supplying weapons of any kind, the subject of an intense political debate in Germany, had become pressing “as it has become clearer in Europe and in Germany that the advance of the ISIS forces will not stop in Kurdistan” unless action is taken. ISIS is an abbreviation of another of the Islamic State’s translated names.
Steinmeier said he would fly to Baghdad and Irbil, in northern Iraq, after a short stop in Berlin, to meet with officials and observe the situation in person.
“The murderous actions and the military advance of ISIS must be halted,” Steinmeier said, adding that Europe must offer help with longer-term shelter and infrastructure, sanitation and emergency aid.
With Sunni Islamist militants threatening Iraq’s cohesion, the US has suggested that al-Maliki’s departure might open the way to greater US military support.
This week, US forces were reported to be drawing up plans for a full-scale rescue mission for Yazidis marooned on Mount Sinjar, near the Syrian border in northern Iraq, possibly including the creation of a humanitarian corridor. However, the US military has since said that an assessment of conditions on Mount Sinjar by a small team of US Marines and special forces showed that the crisis there was effectively over. Yazidi leaders and emergency relief officials have rejected that assessment.
The new-found urgency in Europe came after France broke ranks with other European countries on Wednesday last week and said that it would help arm Kurdish peshmerga forces confronting advances by the Islamic State.
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