European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia
Duration: 1 October 2008 – 31 January 2009
Number of military personnel: 2
Decorations: none
Fatalities: none
Background
In the night of 7-8 August 2008, Georgia sent troops into the separatist region of South
Ossetia. Neighbouring Russia responded immediately with a counterattack on two fronts. On
9 August, the Russian army advanced against the Georgian army in South Ossetia and at the
same time deployed units in Abkhazia, another area which had seceded from Georgia. Within
five days, the Russian army, supported by South Ossetian militias, managed to force the
Georgian armed forces to retreat. It occupied a number of strategic bridgeheads past the
border between South Ossetia and Georgia, with the claimed purpose of creating a security
zone. The Russian army also occupied a security zone in the Abkhazian-Georgian border area.
The short war between Georgia on the one hand, and Abkhazia, South Ossetia and
Russia on the other did not come as a surprise. There had been a great deal of tension
throughout the summer between Georgia and South Ossetia in particular. There had already
been several violent incidents, with casualties on both sides. The origins of the conflict lay in
the disintegration of the former Soviet Union two decades earlier. South Ossetia lay within the
territory of the Soviet republic of Georgia, but on ethnic grounds it sought to align itself with
North Ossetia in Russia. Upon gaining independence in 1991, Georgia tried using force to
maintain the integrity of its territory, but to no avail. Although South Ossetia was not united
with North Ossetia, from 1992 onwards it was de facto an independent republic where a
Russian-Georgian peacekeeping force maintained the status quo. In Abkhazia, ethnic
sentiment was also causing instability in this period. Abkhazia was originally an autonomous
republic within Georgia, but after a short war, it in fact functioned as an independent state.
The international community followed the development in Georgia closely, due to its
strategic position in the region. Georgia was an aspirant member of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation (NATO) and it also played a very important role in the transport of organic fuel
from Russia. The significance of Georgia was evident in the political game surrounding the
conflict, in which neither President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia nor President Mikheil
Saakashvili shrank from escalating the situation.
On behalf of the European Union (EU), the French president, Nicholas Sarkozy,
managed to force a treaty agreement on 12 August, referred to as the six-point plan, which
was to bring an end to the hostilities. After a number of sensitive issues had been resolved in
supplementary agreements and the EU had deployed a monitoring mission, Russia began to
withdraw its troops from the security zones. The EU mission was one of the conditions Russia
set for withdrawal of its troops.
The status of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia remained a bone of contention. Both
regions aspired to independence. Russia supported those aspirations, whereas NATO and the
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EU sided with Georgia. The Georgian government maintained that South Ossetia and
Abkhazia were autonomous regions within Georgia.
Mandates for EUMM Georgia
On 11 September 2008, a month after the six-point plan had been signed, the Georgian
government asked the EU to establish a monitoring mission in Georgia. At that point,
preparations for the mission had already begun. A week earlier, on 2 September,
quartermasters had already started work in Georgia and the next day the Council of the
European Union reached an agreement on a civilian monitoring mission under the Common
Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). After the formal invitation from Georgia, the decision
to establish EUMM Georgia (hereafter EUMM) was made within four days. The mission was
initially meant to run for one year. The privileges and immunities of the EU staff were set out
in a separate agreement with the Georgian government.
The EUMM was a monitoring mission. Its mandate consisted mainly of monitoring the
implementation of the six-point plan. The EU wanted to achieve a number of additional goals
with the mission, however, such as monitoring of the observance of human rights and
monitoring of the functioning of the government apparatus, the public utilities and
infrastructural hubs. Another of the EUMM’s tasks was to monitor the reception and
repatriation of refugees. Lastly, EU observers served as mediators between the various parties,
in order to increase mutual trust. The mandate of the EUMM did not include any enforcement
instruments.
The EU aimed to achieve cooperation with existing missions being conducted by
NATO, the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) in the country. In January 2009, the OSCE mission, which had been ongoing
since 1992, was not extended due to the political disagreement with Russia regarding the
status of Abkhazia. The NATO mission provided medical support if necessary and assistance
in clearing explosive ordnance.
The Dutch contribution to EUMM Georgia
EUMM headquarters was located in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Field offices were
established in the security zones near Abkhazia and South Ossetia. There was also a field
office in Tbilisi. The latter office was mobile and could be deployed wherever there was a
need for additional capacity. There was also an office in Brussels which supported the
mission.
The EU member states provided a total of more than 200 observers for the EUMM. The
Dutch government decided on 19 September that it would make a contribution. The observers
were supposed to start work on 1 October 2008, which was very soon. Until the regular
contribution could be sent, the Netherlands sent nine personnel – seven civilians and two
Marechaussee personnel – with armoured vehicles and further equipment to Georgia, as a
temporary measure. Eight of them were organised into two observer teams, each consisting of
one Marechaussee and three civilian specialists, and a political adviser was stationed at the
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headquarters in Tbilisi. The observers left on 26 September. Both observer teams were
deployed in the security zone near South Ossetia four days later. The EUMM was operational
on 1 October.
The regular team, consisting entirely of civilians, left for Georgia in early 2009. The
temporary team handed over its duties on 31 January, thus ending the military contribution to
the EUMM. From that date, the EUMM observers no longer operated in a national context,
but instead in a multinational context.
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