The final batch of 186 Irish troops from the United Nations mission in Chad returned to Dublin airport this evening.
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.
A UN delegation which visited the Chadian capital N’Djamena in April was unable to persuade the Chadian government to allow the peace enforcement mission, Minurcat, remain after the current mandate expired on May 15th.
The regime told the UN its force was no longer required and that it would not be granted permission to stay. Under national and international law, the Irish troops cannot remain in any overseas posting without a UN mandate.
Despite the Chadian government position, the UN wanted Minurcat to remain on to provide safety for hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons who have fled fighting in the region and are now living in camps in Chad.
The decision to bring the troops home was made after a deadline passed for any change of policy regarding the withdrawal.
Acting Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces Major General Dave Ashe welcomed the 186 soldiers at Dublin airport. The final contingent of personnel travelled from the Irish base in Goz Beida to N'Djamena, where they boarded a chartered flight to Dublin.
A major logistics operation has been underway since the decision was taken to withdraw the main body of Irish troops from the mission. The majority of Irish equipment is now 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 equipment the 1500km from N'Djamena to the Cameroonian city of Douala and then onwards to Dublin by ship, a further 9,000km.
The 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.