Body found in Sudan could be Eufor soldier

SUDAN: THE EUROPEAN Union's military force in Chad is sending a team to Sudan to recover a body which officials there believe is that of a French soldier killed after he strayed over the border.

If the soldier is confirmed dead, it will be the first fatal casualty suffered by the EU force (Eufor) since it started deploying in late January on a UN-backed mission to protect refugees and civilians in conflict-torn eastern Chad.

Irish troops are due to make up a substantial part of the force.

The French special forces soldier went missing on Monday after he and a colleague accidentally crossed the Sudanese border near Tissi in the remote region near the Chad, Sudan and Central African Republic frontiers.

They were fired on by Sudanese troops. The other French soldier was wounded but was able to rejoin EU forces. France and the EU have apologised to Sudan for the frontier violation.

Eufor spokesman Lieut Col Patrick Poulain said Sudanese authorities had informed EU officials that their forces had found a body in the area where the clash took place.

"We're in the process of organising a delegation for the identification of the body in Khartoum," he said.

© 2008 Reuters

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times