Chad:The Government is expected to make a decision tomorrow on the proposed deployment of up to 400 Irish troops as part of an EU mission to eastern Chad.
It follows a visit to the region by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern last week, during which he discussed the mission with government officials in Chad and Sudan.
If approved by the Dáil, the Irish deployment will form the second largest component of the UN-mandated EU force. France is contributing more than half of the 4,300 troops charged with facilitating humanitarian access and protecting Darfuri refugees and displaced Chadians living in camps in eastern Chad. A major humanitarian crisis has unfolded in the area in recent years due to a spilling over of the conflict in the neighbouring Darfur region of Sudan.
Local ethnic and tribal tensions have also contributed to the unrest, as have the actions of various militias and bandit groups from both sides of the Chad-Sudan border.
During his three-day visit last week, Mr Ahern met Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum and Chad's prime minister, defence minister and foreign minister in the country's capital N'Djamena. The Minister highlighted the record of Irish troops serving in previous overseas missions and stressed that Ireland's expected involvement in the EU force was purely humanitarian.
Mr Ahern also visited the Koubigou camp in eastern Chad where he met some of the 8,000 displaced Chadians who have lived there since they fled their villages near the Sudanese border. The Minister told camp residents the EU mission would be "extremely difficult" and, therefore, it was important that the troops work closely with the local population.
One displaced Chadian, Habsa Suleiman Ragheb, said she hoped the EU deployment would help stabilise the region. "If that happens, then maybe we will be able to return to our home villages. That is our hope," she said.
Fatma Samoura Diouf, from the UN's Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), said aid agencies needed a more secure environment to do their work. "We are here to reach as many people as possible. In the current situation, this is not possible," she said.
Mr Ahern told camp residents and personnel from several organisations including Concern that the international community needed to do more in terms of humanitarian assistance. He announced that Ireland would increase its funding to aid agencies working in Chad. Officials later confirmed this would amount to an additional €2 million to the €6 million Ireland has donated to Chad since early 2006.
Mr Ahern said he would brief his fellow EU foreign ministers on the visit at a meeting in Brussels today.