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'Deploy EU Chad force quickly'
09/12/2007 21:48 - (SA)
London - The European Union must speed up
the deployment of a force on a UN mission to protect several hundred thousand refugees and the aid workers caring for them in
eastern Chad, a leading British aid agency said on Sunday.
An EU force of up to 3 700 soldiers, about half of them
French, is due to deploy to the border with Sudan's
troubled Darfur region in the near future.
But some EU countries have refused to make up a shortfall in
vital resources, and the launch of the mission in the former
French colony - originally mooted for early this month - has
been delayed.
The head of Oxfam in Chad, Roland van Hauwermeiren said: "We appeal to EU foreign ministers to live up to their
commitments to the people of Chad and commit the needed troops
and adequate equipment immediately."
Both sides claim to have killed hundreds
EU foreign ministers are due to meet in Brussels on Monday
to discuss the deployment.
The force looks likely to arrive in the middle of a volatile
period in eastern Chad, where government troops have been
engaging at least three rebel factions in the heaviest fighting
in months following the collapse of an October 25 peace accord.
Both sides claim to have killed hundreds of enemy combatants
in the fighting.
Van Hauwermeiren said: "We're very concerned by the severe deterioration in security across the east of the country in the past week.
"We're already struggling to meet people's
basic needs and this outbreak of fighting could mean even more
pressure on limited resources.
"If we are forced to suspend our work in the camps and areas
of displacement in eastern Chad where we provide clean water and
sanitation, the people living there will suffer severe
consequences."
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