FRENCH FOREIGN minister Bernard Kouchner has praised the performance of the EU mission to Chad during a visit to the country at the weekend, claiming the deployment represents "the best face of Europe".
Some 400 Irish troops are participating in the 3,700-strong mission known as Eufor which has a UN mandate to help protect civilians and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Chad's troubled eastern region.
"This is a very difficult and fragile mission but, for the time being, [it] is a success. It is not a battle - [the Eufor troops] are not involved in combat every day - but they are securing the area for the local people. They are transforming their lives. This is a very good job," Mr Kouchner told The Irish Times. "This is . . . the best face of Europe."
Mr Kouchner's itinerary during his two-day visit to the central African country included a stop at Camp Ciara, the headquarters of the Irish-led Multinational Battalion South (MNB-S), in Goz Beida. He was accompanied by Brig Gen Jean-Philippe Ganascia, Eufor's commander on the ground.
From Goz Beida, Mr Kouchner visited a camp for displaced Chadians within the Irish troops' area of responsibility and also met with locals who had returned to the villages they had fled following attacks by armed groups.
Eastern Chad is home to some 285,000 refugees from neighbouring Darfur and 180,000 Chadians displaced by local unrest. About 130,000 of the latter are concentrated in the Dar Sila and Salamat areas around Goz Beida.
Speaking at the air base in Abeche, the main town in eastern Chad, on his return from Goz Beida on Saturday evening, Mr Kouchner said he was encouraged by the number of displaced Chadians who had begun the journey home.
Some humanitarian organisations estimate that 5,000 displaced families have returned to their villages, though the trickling back had begun before the deployment of Eufor.
The Chad mission, the first of its kind by the EU, is considered something of a test case. Mr Kouchner said the results so far were encouraging. "Eufor is a very positive operation, and beyond that it is a formidable European experience," he said, adding that personnel from more than a dozen EU member states were "working well together" in the force.
"It gives us an idea of what the EU common defence and security policy could look like . . . and from a humanitarian point of view . . . the results are encouraging. Of course on the ground things still are not perfect - we can do better."
Mr Kouchner was greeted at Camp Ciara by Lieut Col Kieran Brennan, commander of the Defence Forces' 98th Infantry Battalion which deployed to Chad in late September. Lieut Col Brennan hosted a lunch for the minister's delegation and later briefed him on the work of MNB-S.
"It was a real pleasure being with the Irish military in this fantastic camp," Mr Kouchner said. "They are very efficient and they looked happy to be part of Eufor."
On Friday. the minister met Chadian president Idriss Deby in the country's capital, N'Djamena, to discuss the Eufor deployment and the proposed UN force expected to take over when Eufor's mandate expires next March.
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon is proposing that 6,000 UN peacekeepers replace Eufor. The UN force would have a similar mandate to help address the security situation in eastern Chad.
A spilling-over of the conflict in Darfur has exacerbated the region's problems which include ethnic and tribal tensions, widespread banditry, and attempts by various rebel groups to topple Mr Deby. The result is an extremely volatile environment in which aid workers are regularly targeted.
So far this year, there have been more than 120 attacks on humanitarian personnel, including carjackings, robberies and four killings, according to figures released by the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea has indicated Ireland is likely to participate in the proposed UN force.
Asked how important it is that EU member states contribute to the follow-on force, Mr Kouchner said: "It's up to them, but it will be very important because we initiated this . . . process." He added that Irish military personnel had told him the Defence Forces were ready to stay on. Asked if France would participate, he said the details were not yet confirmed.