CHAD:The deployment of an EU peacekeeping force to Chad faces further delays of at least six weeks due to shortages of equipment and specialist troops.
Operation commander Lieut Gen Pat Nash made another appeal to member states on Tuesday at a meeting of the EU political and security committee. But diplomats said no significant new resources were committed to the proposed 3,700 peacekeeping force, which remains desperately short of air transport, helicopters and medical facilities.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has now been directed to step up efforts to persuade EU states and some third countries to provide the necessary assets.
"It would be damaging for the EU to try to undertake this mission without being properly equipped and Mr Solana does not have helicopters in his pocket," said his spokesman. "He will continue to place calls with EU and non-EU states on the issue."
The first EU troops were due to arrive in Chad at the end of the rainy season in late October but diplomats now concede a further delay of at least six weeks is likely.
The delay to the deployment comes as fighting between government troops and rebels in eastern Chad is escalating, threatening humanitarian aid supplies to refugees fleeing fighting in neighbouring Darfur.
The Chadian army said this week it had killed hundreds of insurgents near the border. Yesterday a rebel group, the Assembly of Forces for Change, warned it would fight the EU peacekeeping force as a foreign occupation army if it sided with the current president of Chad, Idriss Deby.
Analysts warn the delay to the EU force could threaten the Union's credibility. "The Chad mission is the only concrete thing that the EU has really done to address the situation in Darfur in terms of showing political muscle," said Alain Délétroz, vice president of the International Crisis Group, an NGO dedicated to conflict resolution.
Fine Gael MEP Colm Burke called on Portugal, holder of the EU presidency, to drum up the necessary equipment from states. "It is a question of credibility," he added.
But many EU states are committed to military missions elsewhere and there is a particular shortage of helicopters. The Nato mission in Afghanistan and a proposed UN mission in Darfur are both suffering from a shortfall in available helicopters.
EU states are also divided over whether extra cash can be provided to help fund the Chad mission, which will be one of the most difficult EU missions to date.
France and Ireland, the two biggest contributors to the force, want member states to agree to an extension of a common EU financing mechanism called Athena. But Germany and Britain oppose providing any extra cash, arguing that it could discourage other states from investing in their armed forces.
Despite the difficulties in equipping the mission, EU diplomats insist that it will eventually go ahead.