Irish troops in Chad in race against time to set up camp

IRISH troops arriving in Chad face a race against time to establish their presence before the rainy season turns their baking desert home into a sea of mud.

A further 180 soldiers arrived in the east of the country yesterday to begin a four-month tour of duty protecting 400,000 refugees fleeing conflict in the neighbouring Darfur region of Sudan and 250,000 Chadians displaced by fighting in their border communities.

The job of the group, part of the European Union’s force in Chad (EUFOR), is to maintain stability but they have a mandate to return fire if needed.

EUFOR spokesman, Commandant Dan Harvey of the Irish Army, who returned from the region yesterday, said there were multiple potential sources of trouble. Chad and Sudan are fighting a proxy war through various rebel groups; there is internal ethnic conflict; tensions between nomadic and settled communities; fighting over food supplies and banditry.

“The mission is to create a safe and secure environment for the refugees and internally displaced people and that will be a challenge,” he said.

The new arrivals also have to contend with temperatures of 47-50 degrees and destructive rains on the way.

“The rains come with sudden and very violent thunder storms and they seem to be coming a bit early this year so we have a race against time to sort out the logistics. There are only 500 km of paved road in a region two and a half times the size of France so once the rains come, overland transport is extremely difficult and we become reliant on air support.”

In two weeks the troops begin patrols. The group bring the number of Irish in the region to 390 and they will be joined by another 180 in June. Further deployments will continue until the end of the year, with the operation to be reviewed before next March.

Defence Minister Willie O’Dea paid tribute to the troops: “There is no greater honour for a soldier than to protect and save life.”