Australian Defence Force personnel will be walking unprepared into a volatile situation at the MH17 crash site in Ukraine, a senior defence figure has warned.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s announcement of Australia’s intention to send 190 armed Australian Federal Police and an unknown number of ADF personnel to help recover bodies and evidence from the site has been met with incredulity in some parts of Europe, with one analyst branding it ”nuts”.
The senior defence figure, who did not wish to be named, said it was a poor idea for Australia.
”They can’t secure the site,” he said. ”It’s kilometres long and wide. They could escort Australian officials and provide close protection, but this is a civil task rather than a military task and it’s a terribly volatile area.
”We don’t have the language skills or knowledge of the area.
”For any military deployment, you have to look at a status of forces agreement with the government and, given the area the aircraft is in, I don’t think there is anyone to make that agreement with. What I’ve heard is the rebels don’t want more than 30 investigators there.”
Mr Abbott confirmed on Saturday that 230 Australian officials would be sent to help with the recovery. This, he said, would include a small number of defence personnel.
”That is our mission, to secure the remains, to assist the investigation and to obtain justice for the victims and their loved ones,” Mr Abbott said. ”It is, I stress, a humanitarian mission. Others can get involved if they wish in the politics of eastern Europe.”
Mr Abbott said that, despite the dangers, armed personnel are needed to secure the site.
”The last thing we want to do is to place anyone in danger,” he said. ”But we do want to bring our dead home. We want to do it as quickly as possible.
”It’s important that we do our best to secure the site and to recover remains as quickly as possible because every day the site remains unsecured, there is more interference and the remains are subject to the ravages of the European summer. So we do want to get this done as quickly as we humanly can and that’s why we’re exploring all options in the Ukraine now.”
Australian defence commentator Peter Dean, director of studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, said the negotiation was key to the success of the operation.
”It really depends on the diplomacy undertaken around this,” Dr Dean said. ”If our government can make its intentions clear and be accepted on those grounds I think this [Mr Abbott’s goal] can be achieved.”
Dr Dean said Australia’s status as a non-NATO member would play in its favour and its geographical distance from Europe would also help.
”I think we see it through a different lens than the European commentators,” he said. ”We are not sending the army over there to take on the Russians or separatists. It’s not a European country interfering in another European country’s business. It’s a country from the outside that has experienced a significant loss of life of Australian people and permanent residents.
”The Prime Minister is wanting to send people to provide security. I don’t think Australia is necessarily mad for wanting to do that.”
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told parliament in The Hague on Friday he was too concerned about possible ramifications to send troops to Ukraine.
Joerg Forbrig, senior program officer for central and eastern Europe at the Berlin bureau of the German Marshall Fund of the US, said of the Australian plan: ”They must be nuts. It’s a very dangerous proposal and will be seen as a provocation by the separatists and the Russians.”
The Netherlands is sending a separate mission of 40 unarmed military police to the site to help complete the forensic work and gather evidence, Mr Rutte said. Britain has sent one forensics specialist to Kiev and nine scientists are working in the Netherlands to help identify bodies and secure evidence.
Malaysia, Germany and Britain are the other three nations that are expected to contribute to the security force.
A British Foreign Office spokesman said Britain would ”offer logistical support and is keeping in close contact with the Australians and Dutch over how it can assist, though it won’t be putting be sending police or technicians to Ukraine”.
”We believe a UK armed presence in eastern Ukraine would not be appropriate,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. ”The UK stands ready to provide constructive support to the mission.”
The director of the European Centre for International Political Economy in Brussels, Fredrik Erixon, warned against sending armed teams into eastern Ukraine to search for victims.
”There’s nothing normal in east Ukraine right now,” Mr Erixon said. ”Small events can trigger very large reactions from the rebels and the Russian government.”
Karl-Heinz Kamp, the director of the Federal Academy for Security Policy in Berlin, said the Australian military was experienced and would not take risks.
Dmitry Gau, the spokesman for the pro-Russian rebels, would not comment on the Australian plans to carry firearms.
Read more: SMH
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