Heads of Mission appointed for EUMM Georgia, EUPOL COPPS, and EUCAP Somalia
The Council appointed new Heads of Mission (HoM) for three EU’s civilian missions: the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM Georgia); the EU Police Mission for the Palestinian Territories (EUPOL COPPS); and the EU Capacity Building Mission in Somalia (EUCAP Somalia).
Major General Bettina Boughani was appointed as HoM of EUMM Georgia from 21 March 2024 until 14 December 2024. She is a commissioned officer of the French National Gendarmerie with extensive experience in international relations and stabilisation missions. She held various senior positions within the United Nations and the French Gendarmerie, as well as in the Ministry of the Interior. Most recently she was involved in conflict prevention, mediation, and peacekeeping in sensitive political and security contexts as MINUSMA’s Police Commissioner (United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali). She will succeed Dimitrios Karabalis.
Karin Limdal, a Swedish national, was appointed as the new HoM of EUPOL COPPS. She is succeeding Nataliya Apostolova taking up duty from 1 April 2024 to 30 June 2024. Previously Ms Limdal served in the European Centre of Excellence for Civilian Crisis Management in Berlin as Head of Sector for Political Content and Focus Management. She also worked as a Senior Capability Development Planner and as a Strategic Planner on CSDP in the EEAS. She held positions in several CSDP missions including EUPOL COPPS, the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX Kosovo), and the EU Planning Team for Kosovo.
As regards EUCAP Somalia, the Council appointed Kęstutis Lančinskas, a Lithuanian national, as the new Head of Mission (HoM) from 1 May 2024 to 31 December 2024. He will succeed Kauko Aaltomaa. Kęstutis Lančinskas currently serves as advisor for national security issues to Prime Minister of Lithuania. Before assuming this position, he was Vice-Minister of Interior, responsible for crisis management and state border protection. He also provided his EU-related expertise to the Governments of Armenia and the Republic of Moldova on law enforcement agencies reforms, and headed the EU Advisory Mission (EUAM) in Ukraine, supporting the Ukrainian authorities in the area of the law enforcement agencies reforms, including the police, the anti-corruption bodies and the prosecution service.
The decision to appoint Major General Boughani, Ms Limdan and Mr Lančinskas was taken by the Political and Security Committee.
Background
EUMM Georgia is an unarmed civilian monitoring mission consisting of over 200 monitors from the EU member states. It was deployed in October 2008 following the EU-mediated Six Point Agreement of 12 August 2008 and the subsequent agreement on Implementing Measures of 8 September 2008, which put an end to the conflict between Georgia and Russia. The mission’s mandate consists of stabilisation, normalisation and confidence building, as well as reporting to the EU in order to inform European policy-making and thus contribute to the future EU engagement in the region.
Launched in January 2006, EUPOL COPPS current mandate focuses on support to the Palestinian Civil Police, in the areas of policing and wider criminal justice arrangements. Through its contribution to security and justice sector reform, the mission supports efforts to improve the security of the Palestinian population and to reinforce the rule of law.
EUCAP Somalia was launched in July 2012 as EUCAP Nestor. The mission enhances the country’s maritime civilian law enforcement capacity by supporting federal and regional authorities in developing legislation, strengthening the criminal justice chain in the maritime domain and providing advice on policy to the Somali ministry of internal security and the Somali Police Force. EUCAP Somalia supports the development of coast guard and maritime police functions in and around the main Somali ports, and implements additional assistance to broader police development.