ANALYSIS:As Ireland considers withdrawing from Chad the UN has appealed for more troops to help quell violence and avert a deeper humanitarian crisis
THE DANGERS Irish troops have faced in Chad in recent months are laid bare in a UN report of a battle in May between rebels and the Chadian army.
On May 4th a coalition of anti-government rebel groups streamed into eastern Chad from Darfur and the Central African Republic in three columns of between 60 and 70 vehicles each.
Every vehicle would typically carry 10-15 men with rocket launchers, grenades and AK47s.
Two of the columns met up about 100km northwest of the Irish Army’s camp in Goz Beida. On May 6th Chadian fighter planes bombed the rebels from the air just south of Goz Beida.
The following day an intense ground battle ensued close to the Irish camp in which 22 soldiers and 225 rebels were killed. More than 200 rebels were captured, including 84 child soldiers.
During the fighting Irish soldiers moved out of their base in a convoy of armoured personnel carriers. They travelled 35kms from their base to Goz Amer and evacuated 77 international and local aid workers who feared they were about to be killed.
When the evacuees were in the safety of the Irish camp the troops went back out on patrol to ensure there were no attacks on refugee and internally displaced person (IDP) camps in the area.
The evacuation mission was arguably the most high-risk task undertaken by Irish troops serving abroad for many years.
The Irish have had plenty to contend with as they try to enforce the fragile peace in Chad.
In recent months there have been 152 attacks on UN and aid agency staff and facilities, many of them in the UN mission’s southern sector, for which the Irish are responsible.
The new report on the situation in Chad, presented by UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon to the UN Security Council, has also confirmed that a substantial quantity of mines and abandoned weaponry have been encountered and cleared in recent months.
Ban said the fighting in May “contributed to a proliferation of small arms, which further destabilised” the Sila and Ouddai regions, both of which are in the Irish area of responsibility.
He said many members of the local police force had been shot dead in bandit attacks and that the force was simply unable to handle rebel and bandit violence.
Chad and Sudan had carried out air strikes against each other in May and June. Relations remained poor and, combined with increased rebel activity, this meant there was little prospect of peace in the region in the short term. More troops were needed from the international community for the UN peace enforcement mission because the current shortage of soldiers risked the creation of “security gaps”.
