BRUSSELS (AFP) — France, Belgium and Poland pledged Friday to fill the gaps in a European peacekeeping force for Chad and the Central African Republic, setting the delayed mission on track to be deployed next month.
The force is meant to protect hundreds of thousands of refugees from strife-torn Darfur and had been due to be deployed in November, early in the dry season when a rise in fighting was expected.
A row over funding and a reluctance to stump up troops had held up progress, but European Union diplomats said these problems appeared to have been swept under the carpet after a meeting of military experts in Brussels.
"We have all the means we need," one EU diplomat said.
"The conclusion is that the EUFOR Chad-CAR operation now has all that is needed to proceed to the next stage, which is for its commander, Irish General Pat Nash, to draw up an operational plan."
Diplomats here also said that Russia and Ukraine had taken part in the meeting and were examining whether they would provide aircraft.
"Two third countries invited to the meeting, Russia and Ukraine, announced that they were thinking about a possible contribution in the area of air transport," the diplomat said.
At the meeting, "their remarks were very short and of a general nature; they didn't go into any detail," he said. Another diplomat suggested that Russia might be willing to supply helicopters.
Few details were available about the contributions from France, Belgium and Poland. A French defence ministry source said Paris would provide five helicopters and Poland two.
Belgium had announced that it would play a role in setting up the mission's headquarters in Chad, but a Belgian military source said it could also send one or two C130 transport aircraft.
The contingent is expected to total around 3,500 troops, with France providing the lion's share of some 2,100 soldiers, according to new figures given Thursday by French Defence Minister Herve Morin.
The mission has a UN Security Council mandate to help back up some 300 UN police officers sent to monitor camps for Darfur refugees and internally displaced persons.
About 234,000 Darfur refugees, along with 178,000 displaced eastern Chadians and 43,000 Central Africans also uprooted by strife and rebellion in the north of their country, are housed in camps in the region.
Many are in danger due to the insurgency there.
Nash's operational plan will be sent to European governments next week for endorsement and, the diplomat said, "if everything goes well, the mission should be approved by the EU at the end of January".
The 27-nation bloc's foreign ministers are scheduled to meet on January 28 and talks about the mission have been pencilled in on a draft agenda.
On Thursday, an EU diplomat said that the first elements of the force could be deployed in the first week of February.
France, whose Epervier military mission has been in Chad since 1986 and has routinely clashed with rebels there, has been reluctant to play too big a role in the mission but frustration mounted as preparations stalled late last year.
Members of the European Parliament and non-governmental organisations also voiced fears that confusion could arise as to who belonged to the EU force and the French contingent.
Aside from a lack of resources, the force was also plagued by a dispute over funding, with Britain -- its military stretched in Iraq and Afghanistan -- reluctant to pay.
Almost 100 million euros (147 million dollars) has been earmarked for the mission, but military officials say the real cost could be five times that sum.
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