BERLIN/NIENBURG (WESER) (Own report) – The German Bundeswehr is holding another exercise oriented on “Civil-Military Cooperation” (CIMIC) in the context of military interventions. The “Joint Cooperation” exercise will take place in Nienburg County (Lower Saxony) at the end of the month primarily with the participation of soldiers from NATO member countries, and with troops from countries, officially claiming neutrality, such as Austria and Sweden. According to the scenario of the exercise, which has been drawn up in all details, so-called CIMIC forces will operate in a fictitious country at the Horn of Africa that has become the scene of a bloody civil war provoked by a neighboring nation. The unit specialized in “civil-military cooperation” must “assess” the war zone population’s situation, to provide the military command the “necessary information” for its “operational planning.” The scenario shows a number of parallels to NATO’s current large-scale “Trident Juncture” exercise, which also focuses on combating an “aggressor nation,” covertly supporting one party to the civil war in the neighboring country. Reference to the situation in Ukraine is explicitly desired.
BERLIN/NIENBURG AN DER WESER (Own report) – The German Red Cross (DRK) and the German Bundeswehr have entered an unprecedented cooperation agreement. The so-called Future Pact foresees the direct integration of the DRK into the “Civil-Military Cooperation Center” of the German military located in Nienburg in Lower Saxony. The relief organization will also maintain a “permanent liaison office” and participate both in the planning and execution of combat operations. Back in 2003, the DRK explicitly committed itself to “cooperate” in military missions. In 2008, a federal law stipulated that the primary “task” of the relief organization was to “support the Bundeswehr’s medical service.” Since 2009, the DRK has maintained its own “representative for civil-military cooperation.” Since last year, this cooperation has been exercised within the framework of the “Joint Cooperation” maneuvers, which are explicitly aimed at the implementation of the “network” of the military and relief organizations, to be applied in foreign missions in civil war regions.
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