Defence Forces face 'medium risk' in Chad

The perceived threat to 450 Defence Forces personnel participating in the peacekeeping operation in Chad is assessed as "medium risk", Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea told the Dáil, which has approved the €57 million operation.

"Rebel and bandit groups using 4x4 pick-up vehicles and using hit and run tactics," were the main threat he said. "Such groups operate opportunistically - they concentrate and dissipate quickly when engaging weaker targets including aid workers, the local population and weaker military elements." These groups did "not have the potential for any prolonged engagement".

He said Ireland had 1 per cent of the EU population, but was providing 12 per cent of troops for the operation and he again appealed to EU member states to "step up to the plate" because there were "still gaps" in the provision of helicopters, tactical aircraft and medical support.

The Minister said he had a "fall back position", but he did not want to contemplate that because every day there was a delay, conditions worsened and more people were killed, raped and attacked in the region.

The 12-month deployment, which includes an advance group of 50 Army Rangers, will cost the State €57 million because EU operations are funded by participating member states.

More than 180,000 internally displaced Chadians and 236,000 Sudanese refugees now live in camps in eastern Chad and the multiple conflicts were a "threat to peace and security in the whole region".

Fine Gael defence spokesman Jimmy Deenihan said the party "broadly supports this mission", but had some reservations, about what "could be the most challenging and dangerous mission in which Ireland has been involved since the Congo deployment".

Jim O'Keeffe (FG, Cork South West) said the troops "are being sent into bandit country". Labour spokesman Brian O'Shea said the most important question was the provision of 20 helicopters and he pointed out that "only yesterday, there were reports of hundreds being killed in fighting in eastern Chad".

Sinn Féin was the only party to oppose the operation although it did not call a vote, and its spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh said the party opposed battlegroups.

Lucinda Creighton (FG, Dublin South East) said sending 400 soldiers was in one sense "very brave, but it must also be regarded as somewhat foolish. No troops have been committed by larger countries such as Germany or Italy. This must cause us to ask ourselves why Ireland, a small island state, must provide such a large number of troops to this mission".

Mary O'Rourke (FF, Longford-Westmeath) said "there is no such thing as a safe mission. The idea that one mission is safer than another is ridiculous. If one goes abroad to fight or, as we are doing, to keep the peace, one does not believe one is going on a sunshine holiday".