EU/IRELAND:Irish troops will face a difficult humanitarian and security situation if they take part in an EU mission to protect refugees in Chad.
But their presence may be crucial to the success of a mission that needs to be seen to be neutral and not dominated by French interests, according to experts from Oxfam and the International Crisis Group.
"The first risk for the mission is that it is seen as too French in colour. It must be neutral," said Oxfam's country manager for Chad, Roland van Hauwermeiren, who made a presentation yesterday to journalists in Brussels on the situation in Chad.
"I've seen how the Irish operated in Liberia and they were very professional," said Mr Van Hauwermeiren, who praised the appointment of Deputy Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces Maj-Gen Pat Nash as operational commander of the EU mission.
Up to 350 Irish troops are expected to take part in the mission, which will aim to protect hundreds of thousands of refugees displaced by the Darfur crisis. They are likely to be joined by troops from Poland, Sweden, Belgium and France, which has been the main proponent for sending an EU mission to the African state. But Mr van Hauwermeiren warned that France's colonial role in Chad and its military intervention last year, when its forces fired on rebels, meant local people may not view a predominantly French force as neutral. It was important to have as many different foreign accents in the EU multinational military force as possible, he added.
EU foreign ministers are expected to give the Chad mission the green light next Monday, although it is still unclear how many EU states are prepared to send troops. Many EU states are overstretched militarily due to operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and peacekeeping missions abroad, according to EU diplomats.
Alain Délétroz, vice-president of the advocacy body International Crisis Group, said he expected the rebels to test the mission soon after EU troops deployed in Chad. "It is essential at the start how they deploy their troops and that they open fire when necessary," said Mr Délétroz, who used the example of the EU mission to Congo, which was named Artemis. "In the first weeks the EU military force fired at the right people and at the right moment. The rest of the mission was relatively quiet after that."
Mr van Hauwermeiren said the rebels in Chad predominantly used hit-and-run techniques, and were unlikely to engage a well armed EU military force.
But he said there was a danger that rebels would seek to use the interval before an EU mission could be deployed and ongoing peace talks in Libya came to an end to take territory.
At least four rebel groups have initialled a peace deal with the Chad government, led by president Idriss Deby. But the situation in eastern Chad, where more than 230,000 refugees from Darfur have fled to escape militia forces, remains highly dangerous.
Oxfam is working in five displaced sites, reaching 52,000 refugees in the southeastern Dar Sila region of Chad. Its workers remain under curfew and there is a risk of banditry, said Mr van Hauwermeiren.