French soldier's body found?
2008-03-05 15:56
N'Djamena - Sudanese authorities have found a body which they believe is that of a French European Union soldier missing after a clash near the Chadian border on Monday, a spokesperson for the EU military force in Chad said.
"The arrangements for the formal identification and recovery of the remains are currently being organised," EUFOR spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Poulain has said on Wednesday.
He said Sudanese authorities had informed the local EU representative in Khartoum about the find.
The French special forces soldier went missing on Monday after he and a colleague, both members of an EU military force deployed in eastern Chad, accidentally crossed the Sudanese border in a vehicle and were fired on by Sudanese troops.
The other French soldier was able to rejoin EU forces. France and the EU have apologised to Sudan for the frontier violation.
The death would be the first fatal casualty suffered by the EU force in Chad, which has a UN mandate to protect refugees and civilians displaced by violence in the east.