Sudan: Mary Fitzgeraldmeets the Maynooth academic and leading Darfuri figure who urges EU for mission to deploy now to Chad.
A Maynooth academic who is also a leading figure in one of the main rebel groups in Darfur has called on the EU mission to Chad to deploy without delay.
The deployment of advance units of the EU force was postponed last week after Chadian rebels seeking to topple the country's president Idriss Déby advanced on its capital N'Djamena. The rebels now appear to have retreated, but tensions remain.
On Wednesday Déby claimed his government had regained total control of the country.
Chad's army had been assisted in its battles against the rebels by fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of neighbouring Darfur's main rebel groups.
Abdullahi El-Tom, head of the anthropology department at NUI Maynooth, is JEM's director of training and strategic planning. He is due to brief Irish troops before they deploy as part of the EU mission.
The UN-mandated force, which will include more than 400 Irish soldiers, is charged with protecting civilians, including Darfuri refugees, in the region along Chad's border with Sudan.
Yesterday a spokesman for the mission, known as EUfor, said it hopes to resume deployment next week.
"They should proceed and go, move without delay and be prepared to take the risk," El-Tom told The Irish Times. "I don't see any reason why they shouldn't. What stops the European troops from deploying? This is not a picnic or a holiday. If you want to do some sort of peacekeeping there, you must be prepared to take some level of risk.
"How on earth are they going to face the Janjaweed if they are so concerned about their safety? If the country was peaceful, there would be no need for them."
El-Tom said that while the EU mission was "very much appreciated" it would do little to solve the underlying causes of the intertwined conflicts in Chad and Darfur without a proper political process.
"This is a political problem. There is absolutely no military solution for it. The problem is not going to go away just by sending troops. Security is only a small part of the jigsaw. The issue is essentially political."
El-Tom confirmed that JEM had been involved in clashes with Chadian rebels in the eastern town of Adre last week, but said reports that its members had fought in N'Djamena were untrue. He said JEM had no other choice but to take part in the fighting.
Déby has actively supported Darfuri groups like JEM which have been fighting the Sudanese government for several years in a conflict that has resulted in the deaths of more than 200,000 and the displacement of millions.
Khartoum has responded by arming and financing those in Chad who want to oust Déby.
JEM leaders accuse Sudan of driving last week's attempted coup in a bid to install a puppet regime in N'Djamena.
"JEM is under no illusion that when al-Bashir [the Sudanese president] went to topple Déby he was not really interested in bringing justice to the Chadian people.
"His primary interest is to destroy JEM by attacking them from the other side, but also by installing some sort of friendly government in Chad," said El-Tom.
"This is about suppressing Darfur movements including JEM. So from that angle, it would be suicidal for us to sit and wait and not intervene," he added.
Yesterday Jean-Marie Guehenno, the French under-secretary general of UN peacekeeping operations, warned of the repercussions of what many have described as a proxy war between Sudan and Chad.
"Continuing accusations by both governments of their support for rebel movements on each side of the border increase the climate of mistrust, fuel tensions between the two countries, and once again demonstrate the potential for a conflict of international dimensions in the area," he said.
Guehenno said recent fighting between Sudanese government forces and JEM "remains one of our principal security concerns".
In the latest violence, Sudanese government aircraft, army and militia attacked two towns in west Darfur yesterday, causing heavy civilian casualties.
The Sudanese army said it had attacked the area to root out JEM insurgents because the rebel group had been ambushing their forces.