Government ministers plead with EU for Chad mission helicopters

The EU mission to Chad will be delayed for at least a month if the member states cannot come up with 10 helicopters by tomorrow.

A trio of Irish men, Defence Minister Willie O’Dea, Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern and Operation Commander, Lieutenant General Pat Nash, made a plea to EU ministers in Brussels yesterday for the necessary equipment.

Ireland is contributing the second largest force — more than 400 soldiers — to the 3,600 mission that was due to begin in December but is likely to be delayed until January at least.

Mr O’Dea, who is to bring the memo on the mission to the cabinet tomorrow, said that without the equipment they couldn’t safely operate in Chad.

Mr Ahern, who has just returned from a visit to the region, said the EU force cannot succeed without proper resources, but there was a clear and overwhelming humanitarian need for their deployment.

“Either we do the mission properly and fully resource it or not at all. It would be sheer madness to send in an army without the proper support to get about given the terrain.

“But the question on the lips of those unfortunate people in the Chad camps was why is it taking so long to have the troops on the ground,” he said.

The French are contributing more than 1,500 troops and while a certain quantity of equipment has been pledged so far the third meeting chaired by Lt Gen Nash to meet requirements will be held in Brussels tomorrow.

Most countries have their equipment in use in Iraq, Afghanistan and on other missions and some are holding back in case they are needed in a major mission in Sudan and Darfur.

However, Mr Ahern said he was confident that the EU mission will go ahead but said that the refugee camps were crying out for the security the troops are to give them.

The EU’s credibility was now at stake and following the Zoe’s Arc incident where a French charity have been accused of trying to kidnap children, the situation had soured with local people, he said.

The mission is expected to cost Ireland between 50m-60m as unlike most UN peacekeeping tasks there is nobody else to pick up the bill.

The Dutch say they are considering giving hospital equipment needed by the mission while the Portuguese said they would reconsider the situation to see if they could contribute helicopters.