Eurolink News

Irish troops braced for bandits and baking temperatures in Chad (21/5/08)

May 21, 2008 at 11:12 am Leave a comment

Some 160 Irish troops drawn mainly from the Western Brigade arrived in Chad this week for their four-month tour of duty with the European Union’s peacekeeping force EUFOR. They join over 200 Irish personnel, including engineers and Army Rangers, who travelled out earlier in the year to prepare a base camp for the Irish at Goz Beida in the east of the country. Temperatures at the camp, one and half thousand miles inland, regularly reach over 50°C – but there’s no time for the soldiers to bask in the sun. Their job is to patrol the border region and provide security for about 40 camps in the area that are home to more than 400,000 refugees. About half of these homeless people have fled the ongoing bloody conflict in neighbouring Darfur.
The immediate priority for the Irish contingent is to ensure the safe delivery of food and aid supplies to the refugee camps before the rainy season begins in mid June. The EUFOR mission is also charged with returning some 20,000 internally displaced people to their homes in Chad before the rains come, making most of the countries roads impassable. 44 year old Galwegian Commandant Gary McKeown is operational commander of the camp at Goz Beida. He said transport remains the biggest obstacle, with just over 300 miles of paved roads in a country twice the size of France: ‘Effectively there’s no infrastructure outside the capital N’Djamena’.
There are multiple other challenges facing the troops, who arrive at a time of mounting tension and violence between heavily armed militia backed by the Sudanese and Chadian governments, as well as between various rebel groups, nomadic and settled communities, and bandits seizing food and aid. A spokesperson for the Defence Forces says the Irish troops will not initiate any exchanges with armed groups, however they have a mandate to return fire if necessary. 27 year old Lieutenant James Sharkey, from Blackrock in Dublin, is part of a reconnaissance group responsible for gathering intelligence on hostile militia. Speaking to reporters in Chad, he said he anticipated having to deal with armed elements, but added that the troops will ‘take steps to deal with that’.
Fianna Fáil MEPs Eoin Ryan and Liam Aylward, who have just returned from a three day visit to Chad, stressed that ‘This mission is a politically neutral one and it is humanitarian in nature.’ They were part of a delegation from the European Parliament that met with politicians, human rights groups, aid agencies and key army personnel in a bid to assess the complex political situation in Chad and encourage negotiation between all parties. Meanwhile back in Strasbourg, Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa praised the courage of the Defence Forces and spoke of Ireland’s proud tradition of peacekeeping since the 1950s.
A further party of Irish troops is due to land in Chad on June 1st, bringing the total number to 400.

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