EU supports sending peacekeepers to Chad for Darfur refugees
July 23, 2007 (BRUSSELS) — European Union nations agreed to start planning for a possible 3,000-strong peacekeeping mission to Chad to help protect aid to tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict in Darfur.
EU foreign ministers, meeting Monday in Brussels, said that any mission had to be backed by the United Nations “with a clearly defined exit strategy” and in cooperation with the African Union, neighboring countries and humanitarian aid groups.
They said in a statement that the EU could provide forces “in support of the … U.N. presence in eastern Chad and northeastern Central African Republic with a view to improving security in those areas.”
The interim EU mission, if approved, would eventually hand over to a U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force, said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
“Right now we are in the stage of constituting the support force and all of that is going along the right path,” Kouchner told reporters, adding it would take “several months” to organize a possible mission and to coordinate with the United Nations.
The EU priority in the meantime, however, was to ensure the United Nations gets a 26,000-strong “hybrid” African Union-U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur in place and to get both sides of the conflict to stick to a cease-fire and continue peace talks, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said.
“The most important thing for us now is to get ready for the deployment of the hybrid force,” Solana said.
A 7,000-member African Union force has been unable to stop the fighting in Darfur and the conflict there has spilled into the Central African Republic as well as Chad. Both countries have also faced attacks from rebels inside their borders.
Monday’s green-light will allow EU experts to gather information and data on what countries could provide forces for the mission and allow the United Nations in New York to start drafting a resolution to mandate an interim EU mission.
Preliminary proposals call for a force of between 1,500 to 3,000 peacekeepers to Chad to protect the refugees at aid camps set up near the border with Sudan’s Darfur region.
Amnesty International appealed to the EU nations to act fast, saying they should also try to protect people fleeing violence inside Chad.
The London-based rights group said around 170,000 refugees from Darfur have fled just across the border into Chad because of violence and abuse “carried out by janjaweed militia and rebel movements.”
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.
“In light of the general failure of the Chadian government to protect its citizens … it is vital that any EU force in Chad, and indeed the planned longer-term U.N. operation, has the mandate and the resources to protect all civilians at risk, both refugees from neighboring Darfur and internally displaced persons,” Amnesty wrote in a letter to Portugal, which holds the rotating EU presidency.
British-based international aid group GOAL UK said it was surprised that the EU moved to plan for a mission in Chad and not in Darfur.
“This initiative is not dealing with the core problem. Certainly, the flood of refugees into Chad from Darfur is a humanitarian tragedy but it is not the critical issue of the Darfur conflict,” said John O’Shea, head of the group.
“It is in Darfur itself where people are suffering in huge numbers. Why hasn’t the EU got the courage to send troops there?”
Several EU nations, led by Germany and including the Netherlands, Estonia and Greece, have expressed reservations about sending troops to Chad, said diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.
Kouchner, supported by Britain and Sweden, is keen to push ahead with planning, which could lead to a final EU decision on sending troops before the end of the year, diplomats said.
Solana said Chadian President Idriss Deby supported an interim EU peacekeeping force.
“He gave the green light to continue working in that direction,” Solana said.
(AP)