'We feel safe - for now. There is no trouble'

The Eufor mission in Chad, which includes Irish troops, is helping to make civilians feel safer, writes Foreign Affairs Correspondent…

The Eufor mission in Chad, which includes Irish troops, is helping to make civilians feel safer, writes Foreign Affairs Correspondent Mary Fitzgeraldin Goz Beida.

FATIMA Yusuf is leaning over a wattle wall chatting with her neighbour when the armoured patrol vehicles loom into view, churning up clouds of the fine dust that ensures everything in this corner of southeastern Chad has a reddish-brown hue.

Out of the three Mowags spring more than a dozen Irish soldiers in green camouflage gear. They take up position outside the nearby mosque and then fan out, chatting to the children that swirl around them as they walk.

For Fatima, it's a familiar scene and a reassuring one. Since the deployment of troops to the area earlier this year as part of a 12-month UN-mandated EU mission known as Eufor, she says she and her family have felt safer.

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The mother of seven reels off the problems experienced by the people of Goz Beida and the surrounding area - robbery figures high on her list, as does the ever-present threat of attack by one of the many armed groups that stalk the region. That threat has not gone away, Fatima acknowledges, but it appears less menacing than it did a year ago.

"We feel safe for now. There is no trouble - perhaps that is because the European soldiers are here," she says.

Across the town, in the large dusty square that houses Goz Beida's ramshackle marketplace, Mohammed Abdul Aziz Bakhit, a local gendarme, agrees.

"The situation has improved dramatically since Eufor arrived," he says, as Irish soldiers on patrol spread out behind him.

The troops are members of the Defence Forces' 98th Infantry Battalion. They arrived in Chad more than a month ago to take part in the Eufor mission which is mandated with creating a secure local environment to protect civilians and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Those in need of protection and aid include hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled the conflict in neighbouring Darfur and almost the same number of Chadians displaced by local unrest.

More than 400 Irish troops will participate in the deployment, the first of its kind to be carried out by the EU.

Chad's rainy season has now drawn to a close and Eufor is mulling over possible scenarios that may arise in the second half of its deployment.

With the end of the rains come fresh stirrings from the ever-shifting alliance of rebels seeking to oust Chad's president Idriss Déby. The dry spell means the region's deep wadis (valleys) and desolate plains are now easier for the rebels to manoeuvre in their ubiquitous 4x4s, and many locals suspect a renewed onslaught may be in the offing.

"I don't know exactly when the rebels might attack but we expect it will be soon," says Cherif Abdullah, who works for an international humanitarian agency.

Are things better since Eufor arrived? "If you are talking about the rebels, things are still unstable but the work of Eufor has improved the situation," he says. "People trust them."

The current security assessment is "stable but volatile" according to one Eufor source. Intelligence suggests that Chadian rebel activity is building in at least two pockets over the border in Sudan.

Chad accuses the Sudanese government of backing rebel groups opposed to Déby, a charge Khartoum denies. Already there are hints of what might be to come.

Last week, a confrontation between government forces and rebels far north of Goz Beida left one rebel dead and five Chadian soldiers wounded.

"The security situation is calm at the moment but it could change very quickly," says Lieut Col Kieran Brennan, commander of the Irish battalion. "Any patrol that goes out is fully armed and fully equipped to deal with any contingency."

The rebels are far from being the only problem. Bandits roam the scorched desert of eastern Chad, terrorising locals and aid workers in equal measure.

This year alone, there have been more than 120 attacks on humanitarian personnel, including carjackings, robberies and four killings, according to the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Aid agencies have been forced to suspend some of their operations in eastern Chad over the last few months following attacks on staff. Just yesterday, vehicles belonging to two humanitarian agencies were held up by armed robbers close to Goz Beida. Those travelling were left unharmed but their belongings, including one vehicle, were stolen. Eufor troops were alerted but the bandits had already vanished.

Incidents such as this have led a number of NGOs and UN agencies to conclude that while Eufor has begun to have a deterrent effect, the overall security situation in eastern Chad has deteriorated despite its presence.

Several organisations, and indeed many within Eufor itself, blame this on the fact that the mission's partner under the UN mandate - a police force named Minurcat - is not yet fully operational.

"We have been slow and I should say that Minurcat has to improve the pace," Victor Angelo, the UN's special representative to Chad, said earlier this week.

"I believe that when we have our military police in place that will complement what Eufor is doing on a military scene."