THE INTERNATIONAL aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has withdrawn its staff from the area of Chad Irish troops are charged with securing because it has become too dangerous.
The agency has blamed a significant increase in the number of armed attacks on its personnel.
In a statement issued from its headquarters in Geneva it said the decision to withdraw had been taken following the latest two armed incidents in the towns of Goz Beida and Ade.
Its health facilities in both towns in eastern Chad were robbed at gunpoint last weekend. Both towns are in the Irish area of responsibility.
The Irish base, Camp Ciara, is in Goz Beida. Some 450 Irish troops are in Chad as part of a 3,700-strong EU peace enforcement mission, EUfor. EUfor is mandated by the United Nations to provide security for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Chad. It is also mandated to "facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and the free movement of humanitarian personnel".
Comdt Dan Harvey, an Irish spokesman for EUfor based in Paris, told The Irish Times that MSF's withdrawal was "not necessarily" a reflection on EUfor's performance in the region. "Combating banditry and criminality specifically is not what we're in Chad to do," he said.
EUfor was deployed to handle major security issues, such as a rebel attack on Goz Beida in June. On that occasion, he said, EUfor troops intervened, protected refugee camps and evacuated NGO staff.
Comdt Harvey added that since EUfor took up its duties in Chad eight months ago there had been no rebel incursions into refugee or IDP camps. MSF said it has suspended its projects in eastern Chad indefinitely "leaving 70,000 people without access to life saving health services". It made its decision "with significant alarm and regret".
"The fact that MSF is being attacked on a regular basis threatens our and other aid agencies' capacity to provide assistance to populations in eastern Chad," said Karline Kleijer, MSF's head of mission in Chad.
"Ultimately, it is the sick and vulnerable that suffer the most."
The statement from the organisation said last weekend's incidents followed armed attacks against other NGOs and a UN vehicle hijacking. The robberies marked a six-month peak in such activity, it said.
Over the past 10 months there have been 24 armed incidents involving MSF staff. The MSF statement said it would review a possible return to eastern Chad.