Ireland approves use of troops for EU Darfur mission
November 20, 2007 (DUBLIN) — Ireland’s government agreed Tuesday to provide 400 troops to a European Union force that will guard Darfur refugee camps along Sudan’s borders and questioned why Germany and Italy had contributed nothing to the mission.
Defense Minister Willie O’Dea said the full Cabinet approved Ireland’s role in the planned 4,300-member force for Darfuris and others displaced by violence in central Africa, but he said the mission couldn’t get off the ground unless other countries contribute air power.
The E.U. hopes to start deploying 3,700 soldiers next month in the border regions of Chad and the Central African Republic, with a 600-member reserve based in Europe. France would supply about half the troops.
A planned 26,000-strong U.N.-African Union mission also is supposed to take control of Darfur itself by the end of the year. But U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says that mission is being hampered both by Sudan’s refusal to admit peacekeepers from outside Africa, and contributors’ refusal to provide helicopters and other critical equipment.
O’Dea said the E.U. mission needed approximately 15 troop-carrying helicopters and a half-dozen fixed-wing airplanes. He said he was hopeful other E.U. nations would commit to delivering these resources at a meeting Wednesday in Brussels.
Asked whether the Darfur spillover mission could proceed without these aircraft, O’Dea said: “In short – no.”
He specified Germany and Italy as two countries with “ample military resources, and so far they haven’t made any contribution to this particular mission.”
The German government declined to comment Tuesday. Last month, German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said his country was willing to provide only “political support.”
The Foreign Ministry in Rome confirmed no troops would be sent to Chad and indicated no comment would be made in response to O’Dea. But the Italian Foreign Ministry pointed out Italy is the leading contributor to the U.N. force in Lebanon and has troops in Afghanistan and the Balkans.
O’Dea spoke out a day after a briefing in Brussels from Lt. Gen. Pat Cash, the Irish general commanding the E.U. force.
“The mission won’t be deployed unless the force commander is absolutely certain he has the required air support to make it successful,” O’Dea said.
O’Dea rejected suggestions Ireland was in a poor position to criticize others’ donations, given it is donating troops without the required equipment needed to function.
Ireland’s military has spent about EUR100 million in recent years on about a half-dozen helicopters and a few light aircraft. But its troops deploy to United Nations-mandated peacekeeping missions using chartered aircraft.
“The fact is we don’t have any (aircraft) to provide,” he said. “Our own helicopters and planes were purchased with a view to use in this country.
“They wouldn’t have the range or capacity to be of any use in Chad. Because we’re a small country, we can’t supply everything on our own.”
Four years of bloodshed between ethnic African rebels and Arab militias allegedly backed by the Arab-dominated government of Sudan have left an estimated 200,000 dead and driven 2.5 million from their homes in Darfur.
Many of the Darfuri homeless have taken shelter in camps in Chad and Central African Republic, but the violence has followed them. U.N. officials estimate around 3 million people have been uprooted by conflicts in the region, including the fighting in Darfur and unrelated rebellions in the neighboring countries.
Ireland emphasized Tuesday its soldiers would be just as focused on deterring conflict involving a half-dozen Chad rebel groups active in the borderlands. It said camps in eastern Chad were currently home to more than 180,000 Chadian refugees as well as 236,000 Darfurians.
(AP)