The visit took place two weeks after the inauguration of the Ponte dell'Unità (v. article) built by the alpine engineers of the 2 regiment, to which the president had participated together with the head of the European Union delegation in Central Africa and General Philippe Pontiès, commander of the EUFOR RCA operation.
During the visit, the highest Central African authority met the EUFOR RCA contingents.
At the Italian stand - after an exhibition of the genius vehicles and the Hitrole weapon system mounted on the Lince armored vehicles - the president thanked the engineers for the construction of the bridge that allowed three areas divided by the conflict that broke out in the 2013 to be brought together. as well as for the rehabilitation of numerous roads in the capital and for the water network reclamation works conducted last year by the 8 ° genius paratroopers.
At the end of the visit to the base, Catherine Samba-Panza greeted the French general Jean-Marc Bacquet - commander of the European force - and the representatives of the 13 nations that make it up, underlining "the acceptance of all European soldiers by the population in areas of the capital where relations between the different communities were critical, an acceptance gained by privileging dialogue with the systematic use of force. "
13 are the European nations that make up the military force of the European Union in the Central African Republic, composed of about 700 elements operating in the capital Bangui, but the financial and logistic support of the mission involves all the 28 countries of the European Union. Italy has been contributing to the EUFOR mission since last August with a unit of genius currently constituted by the alpine geniuses of the 2 ° regiment of Trento (brigade Julia) that have brought to December the colleagues of 8 ° genius paratroopers of the Folgore of room in Legnago (Verona).
Source: Media Advisor EUFOR République Centrafricaine - Bangui - ten. with the. Mario Renna
