Operation Licorne

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict= Opération Licorne
partof=Peacekeeping operations in Côte d'Ivoire


caption=
date=September, 2002– ongoing
place=Côte d'Ivoire
casus=
result=Civil War
combatant1=
combatant2=
commander1=Laurent Gbagbo
commander2=Guillaume Kigbafori Soro
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=

Opération Licorne ("Operation Unicorn") is the name of the French military operation in support of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire. It is under French command.

Mission

The "Force Licorne", which allegedly takes its name from the establishment in Libreville, Gabon, from which the first contingents departed in September 2002, is commanded by a General Officer (COMANFOR, Force Commander), assisted by an associate Operations General. The force is centered around a PCIAT (Poste de Commandement Interarmées de Théâtre), a joint command post, stationed in Port-Bouët.

The Force Licorne is composed of battalion task groups (Groupements Tactiques Interarmes), which comprise infantry, cavalry, transport and logistics, health service, joint civil-military action groups etc. The Force also comprises a battalion of the Army's light aircraft service (BATALAT), a logistics battalion (BATLOG), squadrons of the Mobile Gendarmerie (militarised riot police) and Gendarmerie prévôtale (military police), and a troop transport group from the Air Force.

The Force's main mission is to support the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire, with a third rank force, which may be rapidly deployed to support the Ivorian Army. The Force Licorne can also be used to ensure the security of French and foreign nationals.

The Force Licorne and the ONUCI are known in Côte d'Ivoire as "Impartial Forces".

The cost of the operation is estimated at around 200 million Euros per annum.

History

This military operation included at the start more than 4000 men (down to 2400 in August 2007), started in September 2002 (at the start of the Ivorian Civil War), independently of the United Nations, to honor the defense agreements signed in between France and Côte d'Ivoire on August 24 1961. France and later the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), sent important military contingents to separate the belligerents (interposition forces). According to French authorities, supported by a UN resolution, this interposition avoided a civil war and massacres. An agreement among all the involved political forces was signed in France, at Marcoussis, on January 24 2003.

On April 4 2004, the ONUCI took over from the contingents of the ECOWAS, while the Force Licorne (then 4600 men), which remained under French command stayed in place to support the United Nations force UNOCI.

On November 6 2004, the Ivorian governmental aviation carried out an attack on the French position in Bouaké, causing nine deaths and 37 wounded in the French Military (2nd Marine Infantry Regiment (2 RIMa), the Régiment d'Infanterie Chars de Marine (RICM, a light armoured regiment), 505th transport and logistics regiment). The French forces counterattacked, destroying the two Ivorian Sukhoi Su-25 at the Yamoussoukro base, fifteen minutes after the attack.

French President Jacques Chirac gave the order to destroy all Ivorian military equipment, to prevent any further attacks by the National Army (FANCI), against the New Forces (Forces Nouvelles, FN) rebels, which would be contrary to the Marcoussis Agreements, and to forbid any further attacks against the French Positions.

The events of November 2004 during which the French Army opened fire on hostile Ivorian protestors, put the Force Licorne in a delicate situation vis-à-vis the civilian population. The suspicious death of an Ivorian, in May 2005, caused the suspension, then the formal reprimand and transfer of the Division General Henri Poncet and of his Associate Operations General Renaud de Malaussène, as well as the suspension of Colonel Eric Burgaud, head of the 13th battalion of Chasseurs Alpins and a non Commissioned Officer from this same battalion by the then Minister of Defense Michèle Alliot-Marie.

ee also

* Ivorian Civil War
* United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire
* Ivorian-French War

Source

fr iconOpération Licorne on the French Wikipedia