NO EU Force, after all

Bernard Kouchner's admission that France could not send troops to Goma in eastern Congo because of its proximity to Rwanda seems to have terminated the possibility of the EU dispatching forces to the region. The FT reports that the EU responded to Ban Ki-moon's letter requesting troops with a statement today that a formal response to the letter would be forthcoming "in due course." Kouchner did not explain why Rwanda's proximity to eastern Congo makes it "out of the question" for France to intervene, but the two countries are obviously not on the best of terms.