EU force to protect Darfur refugees may face delays
November 28, 2007 (BRUSSELS) — The European Union’s military mission to protect refugees fleeing violence in Sudan’s Darfur region is likely to face further delays as E.U. nations continue to squabble over who will provide vital air transport and funding for the operation, officials said Wednesday.
Postponement would be a further blow to efforts to stabilize the region around the borders of Sudan, Chad and Central African Republic following reports Tuesday of an upsurge in violence in eastern Chad and growing doubts about the deployment of a strengthened peacekeeping force in Darfur itself.
The E.U. plans to deploy almost 4,000 troops to the border regions of eastern Chad and Central African Republic to improve security for the refugees and make delivering aid easier.
Advance units were originally due to deploy Thursday. Hopes of reaching that deadline are long gone and E.U. officials now think the failure to find planes and helicopters as well as engineering and medical units will mean they’ll miss the new target of getting the mission up and running in early December.
“It’s looking unlikely to be this side of Christmas,” said Commandant Dan Harvey, an Irish officer serving with the Paris headquarters that’s trying to put the force together.
At the heart of the problem is the deployment of about a dozen helicopters commanders say are essential to provide mobility for troops in the vast, remote region, plus a smaller number of armed helicopters to provide protection.
“It’s not a massive amount that’s required,” Harvey said.
Although European armed force have about 1,000 such helicopters, much fewer are adapted to operate in the dusty, dessert environment of eastern Chad, a senior E.U. officer said. Nations that have them are reluctant to carry the high maintenance and fuel costs involved with such a deployment.
Central to the dispute within the E.U. is a disagreement between France and U.K. French troops will make up about half of the force in Chad, and Paris wants other E.U. nations to share more of the costs of the mission. The U.K. is not sending troops and says it should not have to subsidize the mission since it’s already paying for its contribution to international operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Irish Lt. Gen. Pat Nash, the designated commander of the mission, presented diplomats from the 27 E.U. nations with his list of requirements Tuesday.
One senior E.U. military official said he expected a high level political dispute over the funding issue before E.U. governments come to a solution.
Meanwhile, soldiers and rebels in eastern Chad both claimed to have killed several hundred of their opponents in combat Monday in what could be the heaviest fighting in over a year.
(AP)