BELGIUM:Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern has appealed to EU foreign ministers to supply transport and medical assets for a proposed humanitarian mission to Chad.
At a meeting in Brussels yesterday, Mr Ahern warned the EU mission could not be deployed unless member states provided helicopters, aircraft and a field hospital.
"Either we do the mission properly and fully resource it or not at all. The question on the lips of those unfortunate people in the Chad camps was why is it taking so long to have the troops on the ground," said Mr Ahern, who has recently returned from a visit to the region, where refugees from Darfur face regular attacks from rebel groups.
The EU plans to send up to 4,300 troops to Chad and the Central African Republic, under the command of Irish officer Lieut Gen Pat Nash, to protect refugees. But the mission now faces a delay because EU states, some of which have extensive military commitments in Afghanistan, have not supplied enough assets.
Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea also asked EU defence ministers to provide more support for the mission, which will be a test for Europe's foreign and security policy.
"A lot of countries for different reasons have commitments elsewhere," Mr O'Dea told The Irish Times. "But I think the force commander put it very starkly today, and so did I, and so did Dermot Ahern and so no one is in any doubt about what is needed."
Only three helicopters are on the ground at present in Chad and French peacekeepers insist that 20 are needed to support troops in an inhospitable region that has few roads.
There are indications that Portugal and the Netherlands may be able to supply some of the equipment. But details on what is available will not be known until tomorrow at the earliest. So far France, Sweden, Poland, Finland and Ireland have agreed to de- ploy troops, although it is likely that most of the force will not be deployed until at least January.
Despite the continued uncertainty regarding the mission, Mr O'Dea said he would urge the Cabinet today to back Ireland's participation. He also revealed that the €60 million cost of the mission would be covered in the upcoming Budget. "We've talked to the Minister for Finance about it and Ireland is prepared to make the financial commitment to address the humanitarian situation in Chad."
Asked about the danger that the mission could be perceived as acting on behalf of the former colonial power, France, Mr O'Dea admitted this was a possibility. "One of the things the reconnaissance mission advises on is the importance of not being seen as pro or anti either side, to be seen as totally neutral and with a humanitarian agenda only. We are determined we will be seen that way," he said.
Swedish minister for defence Sten Tolgfors also insisted the mission was based on a clear-cut mandate of neutrality. The fact that French troops made up half the complement of the mission could also be positive, he said.
The foreign ministers also urged the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo not to rush into a declaration of independence, but to seek consensus in the international community.
"An agreed solution is better for everyone, also Russia, than a unilateral declaration only partially recognised by the international community," said German foreign minister Frank Walter Steinmeier of Russia's opposition to Kosovo independence.
Separately, EU defence ministers agreed to maintain at 2,500 the current EU military presence in Bosnia.