EU force for Darfur refugees is delayed – Ireland
November 30, 2007 (DUBLIN) — The European Union peacekeeping force supposed to protect refugees from the Darfur conflict could be delayed for two more months because it still lacks helicopters and hospital facilities, the Irish government and army announced Friday.
The approximately 4,300-member force, under Irish command but drawn largely from France, was supposed to begin deploying next week in Chad and the Central African Republic along their borders with Sudan.
But the Irish defense minister, Willie O’Dea – who has been critical of EU colleagues’ unwillingness to contribute air support – said the first EU troops would not arrive until January at the earliest. They would go only if other EU nations contributed approximately 15 helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and field-hospital support, he said. “It would be foolhardy and reckless in the extreme to go in without proper logistical and air support,” O’Dea said in an interview.
The chief spokesman for the Irish Defense Forces, Commandant Gavin Young, said most troops might not arrive until March. He said Ireland had hoped to deploy 60 of its elite rangers, backed by communications specialists and engineers, before Christmas. But this advance party would not arrive in Chad “until January at the earliest,” he said.
An additional 400 Irish troops, supposed to arrive in January, would be delayed “potentially to the end of February or early March, while the force as a whole will be fully operational by the end of March,” Young said.
Confirmation of the delays followed two EU-level meetings this month that failed to secure commitments for the needed equipment. Helicopters would make it possible for the small EU force to cover a border region that stretches from the southern edge of the Sahara Desert into central African jungle.
O’Dea, has previously criticized Germany and Italy for refusing to contribute helicopters for getting in and out of the area quickly. The Irish government and military stressed that the delays had nothing to do with the deteriorating security situation on the ground on Chad’s eastern border with Sudan.
Earlier Friday, a Chad rebel group called the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development declared what it called “a state of war against the French army or any other foreign forces” that deploy in the region.
It is one of several anti-government groups and criminal militias active in the region, only some of which are officially observing a cease-fire with Chad government forces.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said the EU mission would continue regardless of the threat. He was speaking at a Franco-Italian summit meeting in Nice and was not asked about Ireland’s confirmation of deployment delays.
(AP)