en | fr | de |    Press releasesBrussels 28.01.2008

Chad (EU mission): Questionable mission in Chad begins amidst continuing inaction on Darfur

The EU's peacekeeping mission in Chad begins officially today. Commenting on the mission German Green and vice-chair of the EP's Development Committee Frithjof Schmidt said:

"The EU's mission in Chad began today despite the serious question marks surrounding its mandate. The peacekeeping force is supposed to protect the refugees from Darfur in Chad but large sections of the border region between Chad and Sudan, where the protection is most urgently needed, fall outside the remit of the operation, according to the information available. This is an absurd situation. The failure to provide any clarification as regards the mandate only underlines concerns regarding the legitimacy of the mission. In addition, it remains unclear how the estimated costs for the mission of 1 billion euro will be raised.

"Of more concern, is how the neutrality of EU troops can be guaranteed in a situation close to civil war, with the French military concurrently intervening in favour of the Chad President Déby.

"This EU response in Chad is in sharp contrast to the situation with Darfur, with continuing deadlock preventing the effective deployment of the UNAMID-troops in Darfur. This misguided intervention in Chad seems to be designed to, in some way, make amends for the EU's failure to act with regard to Darfur."