EU mission in Chad discounts fresh rebel push
June 2, 2008 (NDJAMENA) — The commander of the European Union force in Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) said Monday that he sees no likelihood of a fresh rebel attack on Chad’s capital Ndjamena.
“Right now, we have no information to suggest that a raid comparable to the February push — or even the one on April 1 — might be forthcoming,” Brigadier-General Jean-Philippe Ganascia told a press conference.
“If (an attack) does nevertheless materialise, we would obviously have to take special measures with regard to refugee camps and our own personnel,” he added of the eastern Chad area bordering Sudan’s Darfur which has been wrought by civil war for the past five years.
“The Chadian force is solid. They learnt numerous lessons from the February attack,” Ganascia stated. “To my mind, no attack is imminent and we are entitled to ask ourselves what military potential the rebels retain.
“Is it sufficient (to attack)? Is there an adequate unity of command? Is there enough political unity?
“For the last two months now, we have been hearing about a phantom convoy of 200-300 pick-ups driving around (Chad). So far, we haven’t seen it,” he underlined.
Fighting erupted on April 1 between rebel and government troops, the latter supported by a separate French deployment under a bilateral defence accord between Paris and Ndjamena.
That followed the February 2-3 push on Ndjamena, which was repelled with the aid of French military resources and which subsequently saw opposition figures accused of mounting an attempted coup.
Ganascia said that on each of these occasions, the EUFOR mandate — handed down by the United Nations, and expected to work in tandem with a separate African Union mission — would have forced his troops to stand back and let a rebel convoy advance towards its target.
“The European Union mandate is to stay neutral,” he said. “Chad is entirely responsible for protecting its borders.”
The force — due to number 3,700 troops at its peak — officially took up its 12-month mission in mid-March, attempting to provide security so that humanitarian work can be carried out to aid refugees and displaced persons from Darfur, CAR and Chad, totalling some 450,000 individuals.
(AFP)