Chad accepts idea of EU troops to protect Darfur refugees
July 19, 2007 (PARIS) — Chadian President Idriss Deby said Thursday that he supports the idea of an interim European Union peacekeeping force in the African nation to protect people affected by violence spilling over from neighboring Darfur.
EU foreign ministers were expected next week to start planning for a possible six-to-12-month peacekeeping mission in Chad, to where masses have fled violence in the neighboring Darfur region of Sudan.
“We have not yet finished (discussions), but Chad thinks the presence of the international community is important in one way or another, to protect refugees and the displaced and to prevent incursions by the janjaweed militia inside the national territory,” Deby said.
Deby added: “Why accept (an EU mission)? Because the state judges it necessary to accept.”
The preliminary idea is to send 1,500 to 3,000 troops from the 27-nation EU to refugee camps bordering Sudan’s western Darfur region, diplomats have said.
The four-year conflict between ethnic African rebels and pro-government janjaweed militia in Darfur has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million.
A 7,000-member African Union force has been unable to stop the fighting there. The conflict has spilled into the Central African Republic as well as Chad. Both have also faced attacks from rebels in their own countries.
The U.N. Security Council is considering a 26,000-strong “hybrid” African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force for Darfur, and the interim EU operation would be a companion effort. The mission would eventually hand over to a United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force.
(AP)