EU to launch Chad peacekeeping force Monday: diplomats
BRUSSELS (AFP) — The European Union will next week launch a peacekeeping force for Chad and the Central African Republic, diplomats and officials said Friday.
The 3,700-strong UN-mandated force, with France providing the lion's share of troops, will help protect hundreds of thousands of refugees from the strife-torn Darfur region of neighbouring Sudan.
"All the conditions are now fulfilled," so that the EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels Monday, can "confirm the rapid launch of the operation," a European diplomat said, following a final meeting by representatives of the 27 EU member states at the end of five months of sometimes fractious preparations.
"The departure of the first elements should follow fairly quickly and the deployment begin in the first week of February," he added.
Speaking while on a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the EU mission was solely to protect displaced refugees, not to help Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno.
"This operation is very straightforward and not to back President Deby. I want to see the displaced people in Chad, who number 400,000, able to rebuild their villages destroyed by the militias coming from Sudan. And to do that, we must secure the zone," Kouchner said.
Some Chadian rebels have expressed fears that the European force will help prop up Deby, an ally of Paris.
The foreign ministers "should authorise the EU operation commander to activate the deployment of the forces and start the execution of the mission," the European Union said in a statement.
On Thursday the Austrian defence ministry announced that it would dispatch an advance team to Chad next week ahead of its 160-strong contingent expected in February as part of the EU's force there.
The mission has a UN Security Council mandate to help back up some 300 UN police officers sent to monitor camps for refugees from the Darfur region of neighbouring Sudan, and internally displaced persons.
Some 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.
In accordance with a UN Security Council resolution the "military bridging operation" will operate for one year.
According to the EU, the force will "actively work for the improvement of the security situation in Chad and the Central African Republic. It will contribute to protecting civilians in danger, particularly displaced persons and refugees."
The force will be commanded by Irish General Pat Nash and have its official headquarters in France. It had originally been due to deploy last November but a reluctance to provide troops and materiel held up progress.
The force's leader on the ground, in eastern Chad, will be French General Jean-Philippe Ganascia.
Soldiers from 14 countries will take part, including 2,000 French troops, 400 Irish and 400 Polish, another diplomat said.
Almost 120 million euros (176 million dollars) have been earmarked for the mission, but military officials say the real cost could be one billion euros.
