Central African Republic: New head of EUAM mission appointed

Today, Paulo Soares was appointed head of mission for the new European Union Advisory Mission in the Central African Republic (EUAM RCA). This mission was established by the Council on 9 December 2019 and is expected to be launched in the spring of 2020.

Paulo Soares, a Portuguese national, is currently Head of Interoperability Cell of the military EU Training Mission in the Central African Republic (EUTM RCA). His experience includes more than 25 years in the Portuguese Gendarmerie, 2 years at the Portuguese Ministry of Interior, one serving in a civilian mission and one in a military mission. His mandate as head of mission for the EUAM RCA will last until 8 December 2020.

The aim of EUAM RCA is to support the reform of the internal security forces to enable the Central African Republic (CAR) authorities to mitigate the current security challenges in the country. EU experts will provide advice at the strategic level to the Ministry of the Interior and the internal security forces, the police and the gendarmerie, with the aim of helping in their deployment throughout the country.

The mission will coordinate closely with the military EU Training Mission (EUTM RCA), the UN MINUSCA mission and the international community.

Today’s decision was taken by the Political and Security Committee.