French soldiers in Mali. Wikipedia/Garbage. Stock photo from Pixabay
French NATO soldiers in Romania hungry, freezing, overrun by rats
French NATO soldiers stationed at the Cincu military base in Romania bitterly complained to an investigative journalist about the terrible living conditions they suffer. They live in filthy prefabricated houses from Mali that are hardly heated, there are not enough toilets, and garbage is piling up in the camp.
Published: November 18, 2022, 6:42 am
The soldiers “live in a swamp with rats and dogs”. According to the Allied Agreement, France is responsible for accommodation and necessary services such as water, energy, waste, etc. while Romania acts as host country.
French journalist Justine Brabant uncovered the misery for the French outlet Mediapart and posted the damning evidence, including photos, on Twitter.
[THREAD] Les soldats français déployés sur la base de Cincu, en Roumanie (dans le cadre d’une mission de dissuasion au profit de l’Otan), témoignent dans Mediapart de leurs conditions de vie, qu’ils jugent indignes.https://t.co/rFHG7VpsVX
— Justine Brabant (@justinebrabant) November 4, 2022
Et pour cause : ils auraient certainement eu beaucoup à dire. WC en nombre insuffisant, préfabriqués revenus du Mali sans avoir été nettoyés, ordures non ramassées : c’est un “bourbier”, avec souris et chiens errants, témoignent des militaires, photos à l’appui. pic.twitter.com/VAFtTNpncq
— Justine Brabant (@justinebrabant) November 4, 2022
According to reports from the soldiers, the meal consisted of an omelette, the bread from the day before and a soup with pieces of tomato. “I’m hungry, I’m cold, I’m tired,” wrote a soldier on WhatsApp to his relatives at the end of October. The scandalous situation went viral, with French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu visiting his Romanian counterpart, Angel Tilvar, last week.
Brabant posted on Twitter that only a few selected soldiers from the dilapidated military base in question were allowed to be present at the meeting, because “of course, they would have had a lot to tell,” she wrote ironically in a thread.
French General Staff: Rustic quarters are ‘normal’
Brabant sent an inquiry to the French General Staff, and the response included: Rustic conditions are “normal” at the start of an operation. Between the lines it was conceded that there were temporary power outages too. But the situation will soon change, they promised. Meals would be improved and more toilets have been ordered.
The Romanian Ministry of Defense (MApN) said that under Allied procedures, “the responsibilities for accommodation, troop rations and the provision of related services (water supply, energy, waste disposal, etc.) at the Cincu site have been fully assumed by the French side”. As the host country, the Romanian side had fulfilled all its obligations, according to a press release.
Deterrence mission against Putin
NATO’s first multinational battlegroup in Romania was created on February 28 on the occasion of the Ukraine conflict to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank. France is leading the mission, which is also to run in a rotation system with forces from Belgium and the Netherlands.
There are currently 350 soldiers in Romania, and there will eventually be a total of 700 deployed. In the coming weeks, the presence is to be increased by further armored infantry vehicles and Leclerc tanks, reported Le Figaro. The battlegroup has since been transformed into the NATO Response Force with the headquarters in Cincu.
“France leads this year’s highest-readiness element of the NATO Response Force, a multinational force comprised of up to 40 000 land, air, maritime and special operations personnel that NATO can deploy at short notice as needed,” according to NATO.
Following Brabant’s exposure of the scandal, some French MEPs called on the chair of the parliament’s defense committee to look into the matter. They face serious problems in terms of logistics and support, they said in a press release, citing the sparse meal, tents without heating, bed bugs and the poor sanitary conditions.
This deplorable state of affairs is all the more shocking as the soldiers have been stationed there for eight months. In addition, they claim to be not a “combat mission but a deterrence and defense mission”. These soldiers therefore do not need to be “resilient”.
What kind of “a deterrent signal is it for Russia when our soldiers starve and freeze,” they wanted to know. They also threatened to have the committee chair prosecuted.
All rights reserved. You have permission to quote freely from the articles provided that the source (www.freewestmedia.com) is given. Photos may not be used without our consent.
Consider donating to support our work
Help us to produce more articles like this. FreeWestMedia is depending on donations from our readers to keep going. With your help, we expose the mainstream fake news agenda.
Keep your language polite. Readers from many different countries visit and contribute to Free West Media and we must therefore obey the rules in, for example, Germany. Illegal content will be deleted.
If you have been approved to post comments without preview from FWM, you are responsible for violations of any law. This means that FWM may be forced to cooperate with authorities in a possible crime investigation.
If your comments are subject to preview by FWM, please be patient. We continually review comments but depending on the time of day it can take up to several hours before your comment is reviewed.
We reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, contain slander or foul language, or are irrelevant to the discussion.
Europe
Publisher of Unique Literature Worldwide Blocked by International Distributor
Arktos has distinguished itself by publishing groundbreaking philosophers and social critics. Now, the publisher's international distributor has abruptly terminated the cooperation, and more than 400 already printed titles cannot reach their audience. There is strong evidence that the distributor has been under pressure, something that has also happened in Sweden. We have spoken with Arktos founder Daniel Friberg about the ongoing struggle for freedom of speech in a shrinking cultural corridor.
Care prompts bishops to criticize transgender ideology
The Catholic bishops of the Scandinavian countries presented an open five-page letter criticizing transgender ideology on March 21, just before Easter. The document primarily expresses care and advice and was read aloud in Catholic churches in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. Cardinal Anders Arborelius, Bishop of Stockholm, is one of the signatories of the document.
Brits Forced to Live in Darkness and Cold
Food prices are rising at a furious pace, fastest in Scotland in almost half a century. At the same time, energy prices are at record highs. People are forced to choose between freezing or going hungry, and a majority of Scots are forced to live in cold and darkness to cope with bills. Old generations' tricks for saving and keeping warm are returning. Nevertheless, it is feared that 10,000 Brits will die of cold homes this winter. We present the Swedish Public Health Agency's guidelines on indoor temperature. Governments in Europe are introducing rationing and monitoring of food purchases. Net-zero emissions are a lie that, in practice, de-industrializes the West and dramatically lowers our standard of living.
Thousands of Flemish farmers block roads in Brussels against nitrogen policy
BrusselsMore than 2500 farmers from Belgium's Dutch-speaking Flanders region gathered at Brussels' central Arts-Loi street and blocked roads with tractors toward Brussels to protest the regional government's plan to limit nitrogen emissions.
Orban: EU energy sanctions costing citizens billions
BudapestHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has warned that some western states could soon send troops to Ukraine. He also criticized the fact that the EU sanctions against Russia had cost Hungarian taxpayers tens of billions of euros.
Italy: New leader of the Social Democrats is one of Soros’ ‘preferred politicians’
RomeDuring the election campaign, Elly Schlein presented herself as the standard-bearer of the poorest. However, her background and previous work raise doubts about her honesty.
UK greenhouses shut down due to high energy costs
LondonIn Great Britain, a particularly depressing facet of the crisis is now showing its first contours - and thus anticipating what is likely to happen in other European countries in the near future: because of the exploding energy prices, agriculture is being strangled and fresh produce has to be rationed.
Lisbon opens borders to all Portuguese speakers
LisbonNot only the German and Italian governments keep opening new paths for immigration. Portugal, too, has opened a Pandora's box and is paving the way for possibly millions of non-European immigrants to the EU – something which is not mentioned by the mainstream media.
Illegal immigration to Italy has reached its highest level ever
RomeIn Italy, despite the overwhelming right-wing electoral success in September, there is still nothing to be seen of the promised asylum turnaround – on the contrary. Giorgia Meloni has been in office for five months, but the arrivals of migrants in Italy have doubled compared to the previous year.
Dismantling diplomacy with ‘feminist foreign policy’
BudapestGerman Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) wants to counter German security issues abroad with feminist politics. Gender training, LGBTQ events and quotas are now part of their new guidelines, which are intended to bring about "cultural change". The German ambassador to Hungary, Julia Gross, provided an embarrassing example.
