Army could be in Chad for years, admits Ahern

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has raised the prospect of Irish troops serving many years in war-torn Chad.

Mr Ahern admitted there was a “fair amount of anxiety” around the deployment in Chad — by the end of this month, 400 Irish troops will be in the country to serve with EU Force peace enforcement mission there.

Chad is affected both by the Sudanese-Darfur conflict on its border and by internal rebellion.

“I suppose it is a fair question to ask this: how do we get into a mission like that and how do we get out of it? That happened in Lebanon for us — we spent 23 years on the Syrian border. I think it’s going to be a difficult mission for the EU,” Mr Ahern said.

“In my view, how long Ireland stays there is a matter for the Irish government of the future, but for Europe, it will be a very difficult decision to pull out of a mission like that in the short to medium term. And for my penny’s worth, I do not think that will be possible.”

Mr Ahern made the remarks answering questions from students at the John F Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University on Thursday night.

While there, he claimed it would be “the greatest act of lunacy and insanity” if the electorate rejected the Lisbon Treaty (also known as the Reform Treaty) in the referendum on June 12.

Mr Ahern said the treaty was not a radical advance for Europe, adding that it differed little from the EU Constitution which was shelved after being rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands.

“We changed the name, took out little sections of it, turned it around a bit and then called it the Reform Treaty,” he said.

Mr Ahern finished his US trip yesterday morning by giving a speech at the John F Kennedy presidential library in Boston.

Greeted by the late president’s brother, Senator Ted Kennedy, Mr Ahern announced funding of $2 million for the library.

The funding would “support projects celebrating the shared commitment of Ireland and the US to President Kennedy’s ideals.”

He announced that the Government would use its knowledge of conflict resolution in the North to assist in other troubled regions.

“Our conflict resolution initiative will build on our experiences from the Northern Ireland peace process and on our growing programme of overseas development assistance.

“It will complement our longstanding commitment to disarmament, our support for the UN, the promotion of human rights throughout the world and our partnership with the other members of the EU.”

Mr Kennedy suggested the Taoiseach could have a valuable input into such an initiative. Describing him as “a man of peace”, he said the Taoiseach could have a future role as a peace envoy.

“All of us who know him and admire him believe he has still much to give to heal our divided world.”

Speaking to reporters following the event, however, Mr Ahern was non-committal about the prospect.

“It’s been raised a good few times this week in different places, but we’ll see. We’ll see how the summer goes and then we’ll look where we go next,” he said.

The Taoiseach resigns this Tuesday, with the resignation taking effect Wednesday afternoon.