Rethink on sending Army to Darfur urged

Goal has called on the Government to reconsider its attitude towards sending troops to support the proposed UN mission to Darfur.

The call followed comments from Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea on Thursday that a request for Irish troops from the UN would be considered "with sympathy".

Chief executive of Goal John O'Shea said the charity wanted to see the Army "play a meaningful role" in the alleviation of suffering in Darfur. But he said the mandate of the force proposed by the UN, which restricts the proposed UN/African Union soldiers to monitoring the situation, was "useless".

"Joining an army which is entitled only to monitor a genocide, and hasn't permission to prevent it, is quite useless," Mr O'Shea told The Irish Times.

The British arm of Goal is currently making the same point to the British government.

Explaining his position, Mr O'Shea said: "By refusing to supply troops, the Irish Government would be sending a strong message to the international community that this initiative, like all previous UN efforts in Darfur, is unlikely to succeed".

The 26,000-troop UN/African Union force was agreed earlier this week by the UN Security Council. It is expected it will take up to six months to assemble and while it is tasked with monitoring the illegal use of arms, it has no mandate to confiscate them.

In a further criticism, Mr O'Shea described the African Union soldiers as "boy scouts" and he maintained African troops did not have sufficient successful experience of peacekeeping in conflicts in neighbours' countries. "It would be like asking the Kerry All-Ireland team to go out and play for Cork."

But he said he was very concerned that since Irish troops have almost finished their tour in Lebanon, and the mission to Liberia is complete, "it is clear that Minister O'Dea is weighing up the decision to deploy. That decision is due next month or in October."

The mission to Darfur which will cost an estimated €1.46 billion during its first year of operations, is aimed at protecting civilians in a war which has so far caused the deaths of 200,000.