Recent strife in Chad will not disrupt EUfor mission's timetable, MEPs told

EU: RECENT EVENTS in Chad will not disrupt the timescale for the EU's peacekeeping mission in that country, which is expected to reach its planned initial operational capacity later this month, the European Parliament heard yesterday.

Meanwhile, MEPs were told that the overall operation, which has an Irish commander and includes Irish troops, is expected to reach full capacity by summer.

In separate statements, the representative for the Slovenian presidency of the EU Council, Janez Lenarcic, and Louis Michel, European commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, stressed the need for dialogue between all sides in order to address the current humanitarian crisis in the region.

Describing the planned deployment of some 3,700 EU troops as a "dangerous peace mission", Mr Michel said dialogue had to involve the current government of Chadian president Idriss Déby and representatives of the opposition, including armed rebels.

"It is my conviction that there will be no lasting solution, obviously, without dialogue," he said.

Following some criticism by MEPs of the links between France and the Déby government, Mr Michel said he shared the concerns of those who felt there was a need to "ratchet up" the pressure on the president. This would included the ending of the state of emergency and the making of inquiries into the cases of missing persons, he said.

The EU mission to Chad began at the end of January but was delayed by a rebel attack on the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, in early February. Fourteen member States are contributing to the EU force. More than half come from France, which has troops and planes in its former colony under a military co-operation treaty.

The operation's overall commander, Lieut-Gen Pat Nash, is Irish and the State has committed over 400 troops to the mission.

While there was strong support from several speakers for the Chad mission, including from Irish MEPs Colm Byrne (FG) and Brian Crowley (FF), others asked if France could be neutral given its ties to the Déby government.

Mary Fitzgerald adds: Russia is to provide helicopters to the EU force deployed to Chad, marking the first direct Russian contribution to an EU military mission.

During a visit to Paris this week Russian defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov said Moscow had decided to make transport helicopters available.

A spokesman for Eufor, Comdt Dan Harvey, said details of the Russian contribution were still being discussed and no timeline had been announced.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times