Troops return from Chad mission

The final batch of Irish peacekeeping troops serving in war-torn Chad will today touch down in Dublin.

The 186 soldiers, who spent the last four months in the troubled African state, will be welcomed home by the Acting Chief of Staff of The Defence Forces Major General, Dave Ashe.

For the last two years members of the Defence Forces protected more than 400,000 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) occupying refugee camps along the border with Darfur.

The final contingent of personnel travelled from the Irish base in Goz Beida to the Chadian capital of N’Djamena, where they boarded a chartered flight to Dublin.

However it will take until the end of July for the army’s specialist equipment to reach home soil.

The Defence Forces said a major logistics operation was under way since the decision was taken to withdraw the main body of Irish troops from the Minurcat mission.

Captain Pat O’Connor, spokesman, said the majority of Irish-owned assets are already centralised in N’Djamena, after travelling some 800km across the desert from Goz Beida.

The next phase of the operation will involve an air, road and rail move to get the Irish owned assets the 1,500km from N’Djamena to the Cameroonian city of Douala.

From there the equipment will be shipped a further 9,000km to Dublin.

“The logistical challenges faced in Chad cannot be overstated, and the success of the mission was due in large part to the expertise of our logistics and support personnel,” said Capt O’Connor.

“Defence Forces-owned equipment is due to arrive in Ireland at the end of July.”

The mission to Chad represented one of the most challenging logistical operations ever undertaken by the Irish Defence Forces.

Chad, which is approximately twice the size of France, has little or no infrastructure with Goz Beida almost 2,000km from the nearest seaport in Cameroon and 800km from the nearest international airport in N’Djamena.

Over the course of the deployment phase 139 vehicles and wheeled units and 269 containers were moved to the Irish camp in Goz Beida. The operation also required 21 cargo flights, 14 road convoys and eight rail convoys.

“A similar process is now under way for the withdrawal operation,” the Defence Forces added.