THE refugee camp of D’jabal is a rough 20-minute ride away from Camp Ciara.

BOTH the UN and Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, have defended the actions of Irish troops in Chad when armed groups tried to attack refugee camps and NGO compounds at the weekend.

Rebels trying to topple President Idriss Deby today attacked a town in eastern Chad where thousands of refugees are taking shelter.

ZIMBABWE is not the only place in Africa where election results do not mean a change in leadership.

More than 160 troops bound for eastern Chad will depart Ireland tonight for one of their most dangerous and challenging missions to date.

IRISH troops went into battle yesterday in a final test ahead of their peacekeeping mission to war-torn Chad.

A HUGE shipment of army weapons and essential supplies to equip Irish troops in Chad is scheduled to land in west Africa tomorrow.

All six French aid workers convicted of a mass kidnapping in Chad have been freed in France, hours after the Chadian president formally pardoned the group, the French Justice Ministry said.

At least three of six French aid workers convicted in a mass kidnapping case in Chad walked out of prison today, hours after the Chadian president pardoned the group.

I WAS delighted to visit Ireland last week in my capacity as the 2007 EU peace prizewinner.

AFTER months of frustration and haggling the EU’s military operation in Chad and the Central African Republic will finally be launched, though the operational commander of the Irish contingent Lt Gen Pat Nash has warned there are still gaps.

IRISH troops will be on their way to Africa within weeks on a European Union mission to protect refugees fleeing bloodshed in the Darfur region of Sudan.

I WISH to reply to the letter headlined ‘Why Irish troops are in the wrong part of Africa’ from Edward Horgan (December 10).

One of six French aid workers charged in Chad with kidnapping children told a court today that local colleagues had misled them.

SIX French humanitarian workers accused in Chad of trying to smuggle 103 African children to Europe will go on trial on December 21 after authorities speeded up the handling of their case, lawyers said last night.

Soldiers and rebels have both claimed to have killed several hundred of their opponents in combat yesterday in eastern Chad in what may turn out to be the heaviest fighting since rebels tried to take the capital N’Djamena last year.

SOME 400 Irish troops are to be deployed to the war-torn country of Chad in the most expensive mission ever undertaken by the army, following cabinet approval yesterday.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs says he expects a Government decision to be made on Tuesday over the deployment of up to four hundred Irish troops in eastern Chad.

Seven Europeans who were among 17 detained in Chad and accused of attempting to kidnap 103 African children were freed and left the country with French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy departed early today for Chad to discuss the detention of 17 Europeans held in connection with an alleged attempt to kidnap 103 African children, the Elysee presidential palace said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned an attempt by a French group to spirit more than 100 children out of Chad on the grounds that they were orphans from Darfur in danger of being killed.

THE 24-year deployment of Irish troops in Lebanon comes to a close today as defence force members serving with the remaining UN peacekeeping soldiers in the war-torn country stand down.

China today said its arms sales to Africa violated no international law, rejecting claims by Amnesty International that Beijing was supplying arms to Sudan for use in the strife-torn Darfur region.

The janjaweed militia that is accused of widespread atrocities in Darfur is actively supported by the Sudanese government, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said today.

Angelina Jolie has just completed a dangerous two-day trip to some of the darkest places on earth, the refugee camps in eastern Chad.

THE international community has to wake up to the reality of rape, murder and destruction in Darfur, Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said yesterday.

Rebels fought back a Chadian army attack outside an eastern Chad town, killing 100 soldiers and injuring an unknown number of others, a rebel spokesman said.

The Republic of Chad has accused Sudan of bombing four towns along its eastern border, close to the volatile Darfur region where thousands have been displaced by violence.

A United Nations aid worker was shot and wounded in eastern Chad after being pulled from her car in a volatile region near the Sudanese border, the agency said today.

The United Nations has decided to significantly reduce UN staff in parts of Sudan’s volatile West Darfur region because of increasing insecurity and the growing possibility of a war between Sudan and neighbouring Chad.

More than 100,000 people are essentially being held captive by armed militias in West Darfur, international aid agency Oxfam said today.

DESPITE international attention and visits by foreign dignitaries the humanitarian situation in Darfur and eastern Chad remains critical, international aid agency Oxfam warned yesterday.

AROUND 30,000 Sudanese victims of fresh attacks by Arab militia inside Darfur are threatening to cross into Chad unless the international community acts to protect them.

AID workers who were forced to leave two refugee camps in Chad because of violence have resumed their operations.

THE UN refugee agency is facing a race against time to help more than 100,000 impoverished Sudanese refugees who have spilled across the border into Chad to escape increasing violence in their homeland.