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I would like to greet and welcome
you all at the Officers' Academy and thank you for having
accepted our invitation. My special thanks to the authorities
present. I would like to mention, among others, the presence
among us of Under-secretary Bosi who represents Minister
Martino. In the modern geo-strategic scenarios, characterised
by ever widening dimensions, the problems of security
generally develop and are defined in global contexts that do
not exclude any area of our planet. Actually, geographic
distances have lost most of their significance and all
social, economic and political phenomena, including the
relative pathologies (criminality of all sorts and thus
terrorism as well) normally develop globally.
In sum, there
is an actual widespread awareness nowadays that no State can close
itself up in its small world and equip itself autonomously as
regards security, which, on the contrary, largely depends on the
climate of security, lawfulness and stability present all over the
world. Italy has fully understood this concept and has long been
working to bring stability to crisis areas, to help those
populations to find the path for development and wealth as well as,
though indirectly, safeguard as far as possible tranquillity and
development in our own country. This is the scenario where the
premises for multinational operations arise and on these scenarios
the Carabinieri Corps is called to give its contribution and
enhance, as far as possible, the peculiarities that have
characterised right from the beginning its long history, always
intimately woven with the history of our country.
Right from the
start the Carabinieri Corps have always operated, without problems
of sort, both in typically military contexts in combat activities
and in non military ambits to maintain and restore public order and
security or, more simply, to support social and humanitarian aims.
These peculiarities are proving especially useful in the present
scenario. In fact, the characteristics of the interventions in the
destabilised areas cover a wide range of activities from peace
imposing armed interventions, generally the competence of the Armed
Forces, to simple technical and humanitarian assistance, the
competence of more or less structured civilian bodies.
Within this
range we can spot a vast segment that can no longer refer
exclusively to operational activities such as combat, but cannot
yet be considered as mere technical or humanitarian assistance.
Here the use of military Police Forces such as the Carabineri Corps
is particularly significant. In fact, a particular skill is
required, a sort of "intermediate police" that the Carabinieri
Corps have succeeded in expressing adequately right from the
beginning. Hence the original contribution offered by the MSU
regiments, in which the Carabinieri Corps, in a balanced and
co-ordinated manner, transferred operational procedures and
organisational modules already employed efficaciously in our
country by its multifarious components.
The need to
employ on the theatre military police forces to bridge what had
been defined the security gap existing between the capacities of
military Forces - non specifically trained to maintain public order
and security with a preventive approach - and the lack of local
security structures, was felt in 1997 by the Supreme Commander of
the Allied Forces in Europe (SACEUR), responsible for carrying out
the Dayton Agreements. In February 1998, the North Atlantic Council
approved the establishment of a tool specialising in collecting
information for police ends and in the field of public security and
charged Italy, and the Carbinieri Corps in particular, with its
organisation and leadership.
Since August
1998, the Carbinieri Corps deployed the MSU-SFOR regiment in Bosnia
with the task of guaranteeing public order and security, assist in
the return of refugees and the displaced, sustain the installation
of governments and contribute in controlling crises in co-operation
with the International Police Task Force (IPTF) under the aegis of
the UNO. The acknowledged adequacy of the model adopted and the
flattering results obtained determined the request for the
establishment of a similar MSU in Albania, within the "Allied
Harbour" Mission. Following the undersigning of the Military
Technical Agreement between NATO representatives and Serbians, a
NATO force deployment in Kosovo (KFOR) was authorised. Thus, since
4 August, 1999, the Carbinieri Corps have a new MSU in Pristina,
within the KFOR, carrying out information and investigation tasks,
searching and seizing war criminals besides the usual tasks of the
SFOR regiment. Lastly, as you know, since last July another
Regiment operates in Iraq within the Italian intervention to
guarantee security and the reconstruction of the free Institutions
in the province of the Dhi Khar, carrying out the same tasks as the
MSU-KFOR with the addition of specialized engagements.
Nowadays the
MSU operate with a more complete and articulated structure,
equipped with "modules" to carry out territory control, prevention
and law enforcing tasks regarding public order and security,
counter terrorism, military intelligence, search and seizure of war
criminals, logistic support and local police training, with
important contributions and consultancy in other specialized issues
such as the safeguard of the environment, health, the cultural
heritage and scientific investigation. The Regiments staff
personnel from the Special Intervention Group to carry out when
necessary high risk interventions and VIP security tasks. The
appointment of Carabinieri drawn from investigation and
intelligence departments to the MSU Regiments has proved extremely
important.
These men have
specific professionalism and experiences as well as technologies
and analysis tools (software) used in our country to contrast
eversion and organised criminality. The choices adopted have been
up to our expectations. Their validity is confirmed by the results
obtained by the MSU Regiments that, in 2003 alone, carried out
19,840 patrols, arresting 344 people and 120 seizures of fire arms,
grenades and rocket launchers as well as great quantities of drug
and tobacco designed for smuggling. It is now time for a new
normative and doctrinal restructuring of MSU and this Seminar is an
important contribution to an in depth survey indispensable for the
best realisation of the issue.
(*) - General of the Army,
General Commander of the Carabinieri
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