N'Djamena, 04/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - With just a few days to go before its mandate comes to an end, EUFOR Tchad/RCA (the EU-led force in Chad and Central African Republic) seems to be meeting all the conditions allowing it to declare that its mission has been successfully accomplished and to ensure a smooth transfer of command to the UN force that will be taking over from it on 15 March. With its multinational and well-equipped force able to adjust to the particularly difficult terrain of action so far from the European continent, the EU has demonstrated its rapid, effective action capability, thus opening the way to new forms of security and defence cooperation.
Officially launched in January 2008 in the form of a bridging operation, EUFOR Tchad/RCA had one year as of 15 March (the date when initial operational capacity was declared) to prepare the ground for deployment of the military component of the United Nations mission (MINURCAT) responsible for ensuring protection of the civil side of UN activity as well as of the refugee sites and camps in eastern Chad and to the north-east of the Central African Republic. EUFOR's mandate was also to contribute to protecting populations in danger (especially displaced persons and refugees, as well as the Chadians themselves), to facilitate humanitarian aid and the free movement of humanitarian workers, and to contribute to making the operations zone secure. While operating in a particularly complex socio-political milieu and on difficult terrain from the climatic and geographical points of view, EU military have managed to visit over 1,300 villages, carry out nearly 2,000 patrols and intervene in over 70 occasions in response to MINURCAT calls for aid. EUFOR has also built bases for housing units in the operations zone strictly speaking (east of Chad and north-east of the Central African Republic) as well as in the capital where the rear base headquarters is located, commanded by Polish Colonel Marek Sanak and responsible for providing logistic support and taking in military beginning their service there, as well as in Abéché where the force headquarters is located under the command of French General Jean-Philippe Ganascia. In the context of this operation, the largest mission implemented by the EU to date, 3,700 troops have been deployed. The operation has mobilised about 10 aircraft (over the operations zone) for tactical airlifting of nearly 4,000 tonnes of freight, carrying out over 600 flights.
After initial reticence, contacts with international organisations and a number of non-governmental organisations as well as with local authorities have been regularised at the humanitarian level. Each of the three Multinational Battalions (North commanded by the Polish, Central commanded by the French and South commanded by the Irish) has set liaison officers in place for contacts with international organisations to ensure constant contact with those that so wish (88 in total). Plans for evacuation of their personnel have been developed and regularly updated in each of the three operations zones. During the operation, European troops have thus intervened 18 times at the request of humanitarian players, for example, near the Kerfi refugee camp when personnel of the United Nations High Representative Bureau were attacked in June 2008. Thousands of patrols carried out to the east of the country have ensured that the EU is visible, drawn up a map of the terrain covered and identified threats weighing on the local population. More than rebellion, that was expected at the outset, the identification of threats during patrols and visits to villages has pointed to daily insecurity coming mainly from banditry and generalised impunity, the over-arming of the region, the lack of resources and the absence of intra-Community conflict settlement mechanisms.
On the security front, the situation has improved especially where EUFOR is present, General Ganascia said on Monday 2 March. The same thing was confirmed by representatives of displaced persons and refugees, who said the number of attacks around camps has fallen since EUFOR's arrival. Attacks by armed Arab militia (Janjaweed) have not reoccurred since EUFOR deployment.
When it comes to transition to the UN force, all three main EUFOR contributors (France, Poland and Ireland) have confirmed that they will keep their troops in the region for at least the first phase of the new operation that will automatically pass under MINURCAT command on 15 March, allowing the UN to gain time for deploying the new units. Poland will keep its contingent deployed in Iriba for the next six months before being relieved by Malawi forces. Part of the French contingent will remain in the theatre of operations until the end of the year before being relieved by the contingent from Ghana, while the Irish battalion will remain operational for another year. UN operations command will be held by Senegalese General Elhadji Mouhamedou Kandji. With the first units from Ghana (around 100 personnel), who should arrive next week, and the Togolese expected for 1 April, MINURCAT should start with 2,400, which is certainly not sufficient to conduct large-scale EUFOR action but should allow the operations zone to be made secure. Other countries such as China, Uruguay, Nepal and Uganda have already expressed their interest in taking part in MINURCAT. Libya has made an official offer of participation to the UN but the proposal is still being studied. (A.By./transl.jl)