UN mission in Chad has only half its troops

THE UNITED Nations peace-enforcement mission in Chad on which Irish soldiers are serving has less than half the troops it needs and is chronically short of helicopters despite an increase in armed attacks on aid workers, a senior UN official has warned.

Edmund Melet, the UN’s assistant secretary general for peacekeeping operations, said the Chad MINURCAT mission had 2,425 troops when it should have 5,200 and was short 18 helicopters.

The helicopter shortage and lack of “critical communications” units had weakened the mission’s ability to display its strength and to conduct long-range patrols, which were needed to deter bandits and rebels in the troubled region.

“I cannot sufficiently stress the risk posed by the lack of military helicopters for the force’s operational capability,” Mr Melet said in a statement issued by the UN in Geneva.

He added that “alarm is growing” among humanitarian groups over an increasing number of armed attacks on aid workers.

The 15 daily security patrols currently being conducted around Chad by the multinational force are limited in reach because of the poor capabilities of civilian helicopters, particularly in relation to medical evacuations.

The Irish troops depend on civilian helicopters, which they have leased from a UK operator.

The helicopters come to the aid of troops who get into difficulties when conducting patrols – which should be long-range and last several days – into remote regions along the border with Sudan’s Darfur region.

Mr Melet said the shortage of troops and equipment was continuing despite the UN having assumed control of international peace-enforcement duties in Chad from the EU force EUfor on March 15th.

He urged the UN Security Council to “leave no stone unturned” to ensure MINURCAT had the military assets it needed to fulfil its mandate, which includes protecting aid workers.

He also said the council should become more involved in promoting reconciliation between Chad and Sudan.

The UN said eastern Chad, where just over 400 Irish troops are based, faced “acute” humanitarian issues with over 290,000 Sudanese refugees there having fled fighting in Darfur, more than 180,000 internally displaced people and a further 700,000 people among local communities in need of food, water and healthcare.

The mission’s chief goal is to protect refugees and the internally-displaced. MINURCAT’s patrols are there to deter bandits and anti-Chadian government rebels from attacking the camps and aid workers.

The mission in Chad has been dogged by helicopter shortages since it began last year because of the reluctance of participating nations to donate expensive air assets to the volatile desert region. The shortage of troops has arisen because of the high demand for peacekeeping forces globally.