EU foreign ministers to meet on Chad peacekeeping force

July 22, 2007 (BRUSSELS) — The 27 European Union foreign ministers Monday will consider plans to send up to 3,000 peacekeepers to Chad to protect refugees fleeing from neighboring Darfur.

Monday’s talks were expected to give the green light to start planning for a possible 6-to-12-month peacekeeping mission in Chad, to where tens of thousands of refugees from Sudan’s western Darfur region have fled, seeking to escape violence and drought.

Several E.U. nations, led by Germany and including the Netherlands, Estonia and Greece, have expressed reservations at sending troops to Chad, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations.

France, the U.K. and Sweden are keen to push ahead with planning, which could lead to a final E.U. decision on sending troops before the end of the year, diplomats said. Preliminary E.U. plans are to send 1,500 to 3,000 troops to refugee camps on the border with Darfur.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday they will push for an immediate cease-fire in Darfur to end the four-year conflict between African rebels and pro-Sudanese government janjaweed militia. The fighting there has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million.

(AP)