Humanitarian agencies now admit that Eufor is doing a good job in very difficult circumstances, writes Mary Fitzgeraldin eastern Chad
THESE ARE difficult days for aid workers in eastern Chad. First there is the enormity of the humanitarian crisis they face - hundreds of thousands of refugees who have sought sanctuary from the conflict in neighbouring Darfur, and almost as many Chadians driven from their homes by local unrest.
Added to that is the extremely volatile environment in which they work.
So far this year, there have been more than 120 attacks on aid workers in the region, including car hijackings, robberies and four killings, according to figures collated by the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Aid agencies have been forced to suspend some of their operations in certain pockets of the east following attacks on staff.
"Security is a challenge every day," says Philippe Rougier, who oversees Concern's operations in Chad. "To access beneficiaries, we have to take more and more risks. The question we ask ourselves is what is possible today, and at what price?"
When the idea of an EU peace enforcement mission to the region was first mooted last year, some aid workers were more guarded in their welcome than others, stressing that there should be a clear differentiation between the EU force and humanitarian organisations, and no overlap in the work of the two.
Others wondered just how effective the 3,700-strong force, now known as Eufor, could be, given that it was deploying to such a vast and inhospitable terrain.
Eufor has a UN mandate to help protect civilians in eastern Chad and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to those who languish in the area's many refugee and displaced persons camps. Four months before Eufor's year-long mandate expires in March, the verdict of many humanitarian actors in the region appears to be that the European troops are doing what they can in the circumstances.
"There is only so much Eufor can do," says Annette Rehrl, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
"If you look at their numbers in a country this size then we have to say they are doing their best but there is a natural limit to what they can achieve."
In June Rehrl complained that Irish soldiers serving with Eufor had done nothing to protect UN staff in the town of Goz Beida when their compound came under attack from rebels.
The subsequent furore faded when the UNHCR later apologised to Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea.
"It's going well now," she says of Eufor and its relationship with aid agencies. "After several incidents, we got used to each other and we adapted to each other."
Rehrl, like several others in the aid community in Chad, believes Eufor is hamstrung by the fact its partner under the UN mandate - a police force named Minurcat which was supposed to complement the troops - is not yet fully operational.
"It would be unfair to judge Eufor on something they were supposed to do together with another force," she says.
Rehrl explains that the threats faced by aid workers in the region are exacerbated by Chad's endemic culture of impunity, and that is something its government alone can tackle. "Eufor cannot replace what the state should be doing . . . As long as humanitarians are exposed to carjackings, kidnappings, even assassinations, and nobody is ever brought to court then it is very difficult to implement programmes and to feel safe."
Rougier from Concern agrees. "It would be very ambitious to believe that Eufor in 12 months would solve problems that have been here for some years. It would not be fair to expect that.
"However it is clear that from 2007 until now humanitarian agencies here have been confronted with the same problems. In some areas access has become more difficult. The question is what would be the extent of the problem if Eufor was not here? Would it be worse? I think some questions are raised when you bring in a force which is costing many millions of euro. You expect a result.
"I believe [Eufor has achieved] some results on certain issues, but for humanitarian workers, we have not seen a dramatic change."
Eufor's deputy commander on the ground, Col Tom Doyle of the Irish Defence Forces, says the European troops have an "exceptionally good" working relationship with humanitarian actors in the region.
"We have worked very hard at it and they realise that we are a credible partner," he says. "Of course there are isolated incidents and because of the size of the region, it is not possible for us to be in every area. But where there is a pattern of incidents we will have an enhanced presence and we will patrol more to those areas.
"By projecting our footprint in as many areas as possible we have, we believe, created a much better security environment."