The European Union planned to launch a repeatedly-delayed peacekeeping mission to eastern Chad next month after France, Belgium and Poland contributed key equipment in the 3,500-plus mission, officials said Friday.
"While the process has taken longer than anticipated, it has reached a successful conclusion in the end," Irish Defense Minister Willie O'Dea said in a statement after military experts from EU states met in Brussels.
The mission to protect civilians and aid workers caught up in the violence in neighboring Darfur has been delayed several times since October 2007 because of shortages of key equipment such as helicopters.
"I am relieved therefore that they were able to respond positively to the crisis in Chad," O'Dea said, referring to the EU states' efforts to patch up an EU mission, which will be led by Irish Lieutenant-General Patrick Nash.
O'Dea said the first Irish troops were due to be deployed early in February, while an EU diplomat said the operation was expected as a whole to start by mid-February. "The operational plan still needs approval by the Council (of EU ministers) but I do not see any problems now," said the unnamed diplomat.
France has pledged to deploy at least 1,350 troops and the Irish Defense Forces are to send a further 450.
Austria, Greece, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain and Sweden are to make further contributions.
"It is the most multinational deployment we have launched in Africa," said the diplomat.
There were no details on what France, Belgium and Poland had together agreed to provide, but the EU diplomat said commanders now calculated they had enough helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Italy has also offered to provide a hospital.
The force, known as Eufor Chad/CAR, has a U.N. Security Council mandate and is expected to be deployed in four areas, three in Chad and one in the Central African Republic.
More than 200,000 refugees from Darfur are in camps in the region, along with 178,000 displaced Chadians and 43,000 Central Africans.
(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2008)
