SENDING in troops to protect refugees and aid agencies at the very heart of a humanitarian crisis may seem like an obvious move, but for Ireland and Europe it has been a very controversial one.

The head of the Irish Defence Forces says the peacekeeping mission to Chad is one of the most important ever undertaken by the State.

Chad insisted today that it would have the last word over the fates of six French aid workers sentenced to eight years of forced labour as France asked that they be sent home.