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Gendarmes in Paris, rue Vernet, near the Champs-Élysées

A gendarmerie or gendarmery ( /dʒɛnˈdɑrməri/ or /ʒɑːnˈdɑrməri/) is a military or paramilitary force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as "gendarmes as a body". The term maréchaussée (or marshalcy) may also be used (e.g., Royal Marechaussee) but is now uncommon.

Sometimes forces that are no longer military still use the title for historic reasons, in the same manner as many other units use obsolete military titles (cf. "hussars", "cuirassiers" etc.) but these are not strictly gendarmeries.

Etymology[link]

French Gendarmerie on parade: French Republican Guard cavalry

The word gendarme comes from Old French gens d'armes, meaning men-at-arms. Historically, during the Late Medieval to the Early Modern period, the term referred to a heavily armoured cavalryman of noble birth, primarily serving in the French army (see Gendarme (historical)). The word gained policing connotations after the French Revolution when the Maréchaussée of the Ancien Régime was renamed the Gendarmerie.

In the United Kingdom, there is a body called Her Majesty's Bodyguard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms. Gentlemen at Arms is a near etymological equivalent to the term gendarme. This body is, however, purely ceremonial and is not considered a gendarmerie.

Historically the spelling in English is gendarmery, but the French spelling gendarmerie is now more common. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) still uses gendarmery as the principal spelling while Merriam-Webster uses gendarmerie as the principal spelling.

Title and status[link]

Spanish Guardia Civil's CASA CN235-300 Persuader Maritime Surveillance Air Plane

Members of Italy's gendarmerie, the Carabinieri, on public order duties in Florence

These forces are normally titled “gendarmerie”, but gendarmeries may bear other titles, for instance the Carabinieri in Italy, the Guarda Nacional Republicana in Portugal or the Guardia Civil in Spain.

As a result of their duties within the civilian population, gendarmeries are sometimes described as "para-military" rather than "military" forces (especially in the English-speaking world where policing is rarely associated with military forces) although this description rarely corresponds to their official status and capabilities. Gendarmes are often deployed in military situations, sometimes in their own country, and often in humanitarian deployments abroad.

A gendarmerie may come under the authority of a ministry of defence (e.g., Italy) or a ministry of the interior (e.g., Argentina and Romania), or even both at once (e.g. Chile, France, and Portugal). Generally there is some coordination between a ministry of defence and a ministry of the interior over the use of gendarmes.

Some forces which are no longer considered military retain the title “gendarmerie” for reasons of tradition. For instance, the French language title of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC) (i.e., Royal Gendarmerie of Canada) because it was traditionally a military force (although separate from the Canadian Army) and because until the 1960s it retained an honorific status as a regiment of dragoons. The Argentine Gendarmerie is a military force (in terms of training, identity and public perception, and it was involved in combat in the Falklands War), but for legal purposes is a "security force", not an "armed force", because this is necessary under Argentine law in order to allow jurisdiction over the civilian population.

Since every country uses institutional terms such as “gendarmerie” as it wishes, there are cases in which the term may become confusing. For instance, in the French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland the “gendarmeries” are the uniformed civil police (see: Gendarmerie (Switzerland)). In Chile, the word “gendarmerie” refers for historic reasons to the prison service (the "Chilean Gendarmerie"), while the actual gendarmerie force is called the "carabineros".

Officers of the Polish Żandarmeria Wojskowa (Military Gendarmerie)

Gendarmeries are police services, but in many countries (e.g., France) the word "police" normally implies civilian police. Gendarmeries are military police, however the term "military police" can be misleading, since in English it carries strong implications of policing within the military, which is not the basic purpose of a gendarmerie (although in many countries - e.g., Italy - it is a task which gendarmes carry out).

In some cases, a police service's military links are ambiguous and it can be unclear whether a force should be defined as a gendarmerie or not, (e.g. Federal Police (Mexico), Military Police (Brazil), or the former South African Police until 1994). Services such as the Italian Guardia di Finanza would rarely be defined as a gendarmerie since the service is both of ambiguous military status and does not have general policing duties in the civilian population. In Russia, the Internal Troops are military units with quasi-police duties.

Role and services[link]

In comparison to civilian police forces, gendarmeries may provide a more disciplined force whose military capabilities (e.g., armored group in France with armored personnel carriers) make them more capable of dealing with armed groups and with all types of violence. On the other hand, the necessity of a more stringent selection process for military service, especially in terms of physical prowess and health, restricts the pool of potential recruits in comparison to those a civilian police force could select from.

In countries where the gendarmerie and civilian police co-exist there may be rivalries and tensions between the forces. This was one of the reasons cited for the decision to disband the Belgian Gendarmerie, absorbing its functions into those of a new national police force.

In France, the gendarmerie has crowd and riot control units (the Gendarmerie Mobile, along with some corresponding units in the civilian police), counter-terrorism and hostage rescue (GIGN, again along with some corresponding units in the civilian police), maritime surveillance, police at sea and coast guard (Gendarmerie maritime), control and security at airports and air traffic police (Gendarmerie des transports aériens), official buildings guard, honorary services and protection of the President (Garde Républicaine), mountain rescue (Peloton de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne) and security of nuclear weapons sites.

A vedette of the French Maritime Gendarmerie in La Rochelle harbour

French influence[link]

The use of military organisations to police civilian populations is common to many time periods and cultures. Although it cannot be considered a French concept, the French gendarmerie has been the most influential model of such an organisation.

Many countries that were once under French influence have a gendarmerie. For instance, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria had gendarmeries through Napoleonic influence, but all these gendarmeries have merged with the civil police, in 2001, 2002 and 2005 respectively. Many former French colonies, especially in Africa, also have gendarmeries.

A common gendarmerie symbol is a flaming grenade, which was first used as a gendarmerie symbol by the French.

Role in modern conflicts[link]

Gendarmes play an important role re-establishing law and order in conflict areas, a task which is suited to their purpose, training and capabilities^{[citation needed]}. Gendarmeries are widely used in peacekeeping operations, for instance in the former Yugoslavia^[1], in Ivory Coast ^[2], sometimes via the European Gendarmerie Force.

Gendarmerie forces[link]

• List of gendarmeries
• 2 People's Defence Force
• Argentine National Gendarmerie
• Carabinieri
• Civil Guard (Spain)
• Corps of Gendarmerie of San Marino
• Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City
• Cretan Gendarmerie
• European Gendarmerie Force
• Federal Police (Mexico)
• Feldgendarmerie
• Gendarmerie (Austria)
• Gendarmerie (Belgium)
• Žandarmerija (Serbia)
• Gendarmerie (Switzerland)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (Benin)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (Burkina-Faso)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (Burundi)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (Cameroon)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (Chad)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (France)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (Gabon)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (Madagascar)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (Mali)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (Mauritania)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (Niger)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (Senegal)
• Gendarmerie Nationale (Togo)
• Gendarmerie (Turkey)
• Grand Ducal Gendarmerie
• Greek Gendarmerie
• Guardia di Finanza
• Guarda Nacional Repúblicana (Portugal)
• Internal Troops (Soviet Union and ex-soviet states)
• Internal Troops (Russia)
• Israel Border Police
• Kempeitai, Imperial Japan's Military Police.
• Koninklijke Marechaussee
• Carabiniers of Chile
• Military Police (Brazil)
• People's Armed Police of the People's Republic of China
• Rapid Action Force
• Republican National Guard (Portugal)
• Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Gendarmerie royale du Canada in French)
• Romanian Gendarmerie
• Trupele de Carabinieri

References[link]

See also[link]

• Eurogendfor (EGF)
• Militia

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gendarmerie

Jean-Pierre Fabre (born 2 June 1952) is a Togolese politician. He has been the Secretary-General of the Union of the Forces of Change (UFC), Togo's main opposition party, since 1992, as well as the President of the UFC Parliamentary Group in the National Assembly from 2007 to August 10th 2010. Fabre was the UFC candidate for the March 2010 presidential election.^[1] On August 10th 2010, Jean-Pierre Fabre is elected National Chairman of the UFC party.

Education and early career[link]

Born in Lomé in 1952, Fabre studied in Togo before attending university in Lille. After receiving a degree in economics, specializing in business administration, he returned to Togo in 1979. He taught at the University of Benin in Togo for four years and was secretary-general of an architecture and urbanism study group from 1981 to 1991.^[1]

Political career[link]

During the early 1990s, Fabre edited two weekly newspapers, La tribune des démocrates and Le temps des démocrates. He participated in the 1991 Sovereign National Conference and acted as spokesman for the conference.^[1] On 1 February 1992, Gilchrist Olympio founded the UFC as a federation of parties;^[2] Fabre was designated as the UFC's Secretary-General, while Olympio led the party as its President.^[1]

In late December 2002, when the National Assembly voted to remove presidential term limits and thereby allow President Gnassingbé Eyadéma to run for re-election, Fabre denounced the move and urged "the Togolese people to mobilize immediately to oppose this coup de force of President Eyadéma".^[3]

Ahead of the June 2003 presidential election, Fabre and another senior UFC official, Patrick Lawson, were arrested on 3 June 2003, apparently for inciting rebellion. They were released a day later, but only after being charged with involvement in a May 2003 incident in which a gas station was set ablaze.^[4]

President Eyadéma died in office in February 2005, precipitating an early presidential election. UFC candidate Emmanuel Bob-Akitani was officially defeated by Faure Gnassingbé, the candidate of the ruling Rally of the Togolese People (RPT), but the results were disputed by the opposition and serious violence followed. The UFC refused to participate in a government of national unity that was formed in June 2005, and Fabre said that the one UFC member who had joined the government was "only there in a personal capacity".^[5]

Having boycotted all previous parliamentary elections,^[6] the UFC participated in the October 2007 parliamentary election and Fabre headed the UFC list for Lomé. The UFC won 27 out of 81 seats in the election, confirming its status as the largest opposition party in Togo, although the RPT retained its parliamentary majority. In Lomé, the UFC won four out of five available seats, and therefore Fabre, as head of the UFC list, was elected to the National Assembly.^[7]

The UFC challenged the election results, but they were nevertheless confirmed by the Constitutional Court on 30 October 2007. Fabre then said that the Court had "refused to apply the law".^[8] Shortly thereafter, when the National Assembly began meeting for the new parliamentary term, Fabre became President of the UFC Parliamentary Group.^[9]

2010 presidential election[link]

It was long expected that Gilchrist Olympio would be the UFC candidate for the 2010 presidential election. However, when the deadline for filing candidacies was reached on 15 January 2010, it was Fabre, not Olympio, who was presented as the UFC candidate. Olympio was in the United States at the time,^[10][11] suffering from backache,^[10] and was unable to travel to Togo to undergo the necessary medical review for his candidacy. Consequently the UFC submitted the candidacy of its Secretary-General, Jean-Pierre Fabre.^[10][11]

Reacting to the Constitutional Court's decision to validate his candidacy in early February, Fabre said that it was "unquestionably a message of hope for the Togolese people who aspire to a profound change". He also stressed that Olympio "embodies, more than any other, the ideals and values of our party" and that his own candidacy represented a commitment to continuing Olympio's work. Seeking to give the impression of solidarity amidst perceptions of internal disagreement, UFC First Vice-President Patrick Lawson said that the party was totally united behind Fabre's candidacy.^[12]

On 17 February, four minor opposition groups—ADDI, the Alliance, the Socialist Renewal Party (PSR), and SURSAUT—joined the UFC in backing Fabre's candidacy. Together they constituted an opposition coalition called the Republican Front for the Alternance and Change (FRAC).^[13] Although some opposition parties declined to support Fabre, preferring to run their own candidates, Fabre said in an interview on 17 February that the FRAC coalition represented a majority of the opposition's electorate. In reference to the other parties, he said that "it is up to them to join us", and he expressed some exasperation at their reluctance to rally behind him: "the ego is so strong in Togo that everyone thinks he can be President". He nevertheless said discussions would continue with the other parties and also insisted, in reaction to suggestions that the UFC was divided, that Olympio supported his candidacy.^[14]

Voting in Lomé on 4 March, Fabre said that "during the campaign, I went round the country and heard a distress call, a desire for change", and he warned the government to not rig the election in favor of President Gnassingbé, the RPT candidate: "The people will make sure their vote will not be changed."^[15] Fabre held a press conference on 5 March to declare victory, claiming that he had won about 75–80% of the vote;^[16] he also accused the RPT of electoral fraud and said that the results being sent to the electoral commission had no credibility.^[17]

The results were supposed to be transmitted to the electoral commission through the VSAT satellite system, but the electoral commission said that the VSAT machines had failed and that physical proof of the results would have to be delivered to Lomé. That method was unacceptable to the UFC, which said that results not transmitted through VSAT could not be trusted; it claimed that the machines had not failed but were simply switched off by the government.^[18]

Official provisional results were announced late on 6 March. They showed Gnassingbé winning the election with 60.9% of the vote (1,243,044 votes), far ahead of Fabre, who received 33.94% (692,584 votes).^[19] Significantly, the turnout varied greatly by region: it was 70–80% in the north—the RPT's stronghold—but far lower in the traditionally pro-UFC south (including Lomé).^[20]

Fabre alleged that the RPT had told his supporters that their fingerprints on the ballots could be traced and that they could therefore be hunted down and punished for their votes. He also repeated accusations of vote-buying and "massive" fraud. Declaring that he was "ready to die", Fabre led a group of UFC supporters in a protest on 7 March: "We're going to make them exhaust their stock of tear gas. We cannot let this go on, otherwise they'll hang on to power for the next 200 years." Although UFC supporters formed a protective cordon around Fabre, he was sprayed with tear gas and the protesters were forced to disperse, fleeing back to the UFC headquarters.^[21]

Reacting to the previous day's protests, the security forces formed a blockade around UFC headquarters on 8 March. Fabre, trying to reach his office, was initially barred from entry, but after an hour he was allowed through the blockade. The UFC announced that it would hold a large protest on 9 March to press for a review of the results;^[22] however, the protest was thwarted by the police. Also on 9 March, Fabre alleged that the security forces searched the UFC headquarters, seized computers, and arrested party members, interfering with the party's efforts to prepare evidence of fraud.^[23]

In an interview on 11 March, Gilbert Bawara, the Minister of Cooperation, criticized Fabre. He said that Fabre should not expect the Togolese people to trust him when he did not trust others, and he argued that Fabre's claims of victory were ridiculous, noting that Fabre initially claimed a score of 75–80% but later claimed a lesser figure of 55–60%. Bawara nevertheless acknowledged that Fabre had received a respectable number of votes; he observed that Fabre's score of 34% was particularly impressive because he had not been envisioned as a presidential candidate before January 2010. However, he also said that Fabre lacked experience and did not do serious work in the National Assembly.^[24]

References[link]