Bridging the security gap: the contribution of the Carabinieri

As we have seen above, at the 2004 Sea Island Summit, the “G-8 Action Plan: Expanding Global Capability for Peace Support Operations” was adopted. It foresees to train 75,000 international peacekeepers by 2010, of which 10% specializing in managing the transition from a post-crisis situation to a more stable context for reconstruction. To achieve this specific target, it envisages the creation of 7,500 “Carabinieri/Gendarmerie- type forces prepared for rapid deployment, self-sustained logistics, interoperability with military components, and the capability to establish a

strong police presence in hostile neighbourhoods”278_{. The task of}

establishing the training facility for the gendarme-type peacekeepers has been given to the Italian Carabinieri, which have subsequently established the Centre of Excellence for Stability Police Units (CoESPU) in the northern town of Vicenza. Over the next five years, CoESPU is committed “to train 3000 Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers who will, following of the train-the-trainer principle, return to their countries and complete the training of at least 4,500 additional personnel before the end of 2010”279_.

The involvement of the Carabinieri in this ambitious programme marks the recognition of their special contribution to the key issue of security within Peace Support Operations (PSOs).

“Over the last ten years, the Carabinieri, a military force with general police competence, have had a lot of experience in participating in PSOs. The Carabinieri have provided doctrine, training and leadership for the MSUs [Multinational Specialized Units] deployed in Bosnia and Kosovo. The MSU concept is the fruit of the Carabinieri experience in the Balkan theatre, where it became clear that countries emerging from crises needed special police with a military status to serve as the “combat replacement” to fill the security gap between military forces and civilian police. Since its inception in 1998, the

278 _{Carabinieri. COESPU Project. Available at:} http://coespu.carabinieri.it/ENG_00_Coespu02.htm 279 _Ibid.

MSU has been overwhelmingly accepted as a crucial player in the stabilization process. Carabinieri/Gendarmerie-like forces relieve some of the military units’ heavy burden, can establish an environment in which civilian police can operate effectively, solve ‘day after’ problems, and stabilize the situation under the rule of law.

Stability Police Units (SPU) are both flexible and adaptable, operating in a context where military and civilian tasks overlap during the post-crisis phase of a country’s stabilization. Due to their hybrid nature, SPUs may be put under both military and civilian chains of command. Their ability to adapt, step by step, to mission changes produced by the gradual stabilization of an area makes SPUs ideal instruments for peacekeeping missions in which longer-term stabilization and reconstruction are the goals”280_.

The original contribution offered by the Carabinieri is grounded in the “dual” nature of this ancient Italian corps. Instituted in Turin by the then Kingdom of Sardinia in 1814, the Carabinieri have performed from their early days the dual function of national defence and policing. In their first capacity, the Carabinieri take part into military operations in Italy and abroad, exert the exclusive function of security and military police for the armed forces and provide security to Italian diplomatic and military institutions abroad. In their second capacity, the Carabinieri exert functions of judicial and public order and security policing. While Carabinieri units

had been deployed within international peacekeeping missions before281_{, it}

was only in 1998, in Bosnia-Herzegovina that their peculiar structure was fully exploited in the difficult security context of that country. In the light of their past experience abroad, the Carabinieri were asked by the NATO commands to develop a concept for an international police force capable of filling the security gap existing between the military presence (represented by NATO-led Stabilization Force – SFOR) and the civil police (represented by local police and the International Police Task Force – IPTF, which was tasked only with monitoring and training responsibilities, without an operational role). The result was the Multinational Specialized

Unit (MSU) concept, a police force with military status282 _{- which therefore}

may also be placed under a military chain of command - in charge of security, public order and law enforcement. MSU is also tasked with

280 _Ibid.

281 _{Current presence of Carabinieri on mission abroad amounts to 1,074, spread in 12 countries.} The three major operations are in Iraq (386 people), Bosnia-Herzegovina (343), and Kosovo (319). 282 _{Such a police force has to be clearly differentiated from a “military police force”, whose}

investigation and intelligence collection responsibilities, in connection with local civilian authorities. It can also perform monitoring and training duties in support of local police, with the aim of progressively transfer to them its responsibilities.

After its first, successful experience in Bosnia-Herzegovina, MSU has been replicated in Albania in 1999, in Kosovo, where it still operates, and more recently in Iraq. All MSU are led by the Carabinieri, but include also contingents from other countries (France and Estonia in Kosovo, Portugal and Romania in Iraq).

Within the EU, a similar concept has been adopted, called IPU (Integrated Police Unit), with a more pronounced civilian character. The largest IPU is currently operating in Bosnia-Herzegovina (following the replacement of SFOR by EU-led EUFOR) and is also led by the Carabinieri. Overall, Italy has pledged approximately 1,100 civilian police staff within the overall EU target of 5,000 policemen ready for deployment, out of which 800 are Carabinieri and 300 come from other national police corps.

Within the UN, DPKO has developed a third, similar concept, called FPU (Formed Police Unit). Contacts are ongoing to seek to define common standards for the three different concepts, also in order to make sure that CoESPU trainees meet certification standards required by the UN and the EU.

At the present stage, CoESPU has made preliminary arrangements with the objective of starting its training activities in the fall of 2005. Funding is provided by Italy and the US, and trainers are being selected from several countries and institutions, including experienced PSO Carabinieri Force Officers, officers from contributing nations, University professors. Courses will cover a vast range of issues, including human rights, international and humanitarian law, criminal law, prison management and civil-military cooperation. They will be provided at two different levels: High Level/Senior Officers Course, a 4-week program with 40 participants in each course; and Middle Management Course, a 6-week program with 100 participants (divided into 2 classes of 50 students) per course.

An initial group of countries has been selected for the first courses; it includes some of the major troop contributors to peacekeeping operations, such as India, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco and Senegal.

While the impact of CoESPU will only be appreciated within a few years, its ambitions are certainly very high and its eventual success could bring a substantial contribution to improving the effectiveness of peace support operations in one of the most delicate area, namely security, which has often been the Achilles’ heel of many of them, and whose failure is regarded as one of the major shortcomings in the implementation of peacebuilding activities.