EUFOR Chad. The strength of the EU unblocked at the European Council?

(BRUSSELS2) Could the European Council enable the establishment of the EU military mission in Chad/Central African Republic (CAR) to be unblocked? In any case, after the EU-Africa summit, high-level contacts are continuing. And, little by little, the Member States release the means necessary for the deployment (medical means, medical evacuation, logistical transport).

During the Council of Ministers for External Relations, on December 10, the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs revealed that Italy could provide the missing emergency hospital unit. It should be established in Abéché alongside the French medical branch, already present within the framework of the “Epervier” system (bilateral Franco-Chadian cooperation). With regard to helicopter and medical evacuation means, the Romanian government has confirmed that it wants to submit the subject to its National Security Council and give an answer very quickly. Same evaluation in progress for Portugal and Slovenia which are studying “ the question carefully ". In its conclusions, the 27 also recall that the deployment of the Eufor Tchad/CAR mission, like that of the United Nations Mission in the region (Minurcat), “remains crucial”. They hope to "soon finalize the current force generation process" and "assemble all the resources necessary to conduct this operation".

REQUEST FOR NGO INTERVENTION

Also on Monday, the humanitarian aid organization Oxfam stepped up and called on Europeans to “respect their commitments vis-à-vis the populations of Chad and send without further delay sufficient troops and adequate equipment ". " The current insecurity demonstrates the urgent need to deploy a truly neutral force in Chad to protect the innocent people trapped in this conflict. said Roland Van Haumermeiren, head of Oxfam in Chad. " Europe's delay could result in the multinational force, when it is finally deployed, finding itself caught in the middle of an expanding civil war ". " Fighting puts aid organizations at risk of more attacks from armed groups seeking to steal vehicles or money adds the organization, which has 150 people (expatriates and local agents) in the field.

However, this sentiment is not shared by Médecins sans frontières – Belgium, which has never called for the deployment of a military force to protect refugees. “We feel that the humanitarian space is sufficient to continue working. In this region, we have never been targeted as humanitarians, that is to say in order to counter the nature of our (humanitarian) operations,” explains one of its managers.

(published in Europolitics, December 2007)