THE MINISTER for Defence has said the Government will leave it “to the very last minute” before withdrawing troops to allow the United Nations to renew its Chad mandate.
“Each day that passes makes that more difficult,” he added.
Tony Killeen told journalists at the Easter Rising commemoration in Dublin yesterday that it was difficult to be confident that the UN could negotiate a new mandate, but “right up to the point it becomes possible, we will review the situation”.
He added that the Government had had no indication from the UN that anything had changed.
A high-level UN team is in Chad for talks with the Chadian government regarding the future of the force. Last week, a senior UN official told The Irish Timesthat the Irish decision to announce a withdrawal was "unfortunate" given that those negotiations were at a "critical juncture".
Mr Killeen said his clear impression was that it would take quite a while to renew the mandate, if at all. Even if it was renewed, it was to likely be a lesser mandate for fewer people, he added.
At the weekend, the association representing soldiers, sailors and air crew, PDforra, warned that any “premature” withdrawal of Irish troops from Chad would represent a further erosion of its members’ conditions and leave vulnerable Chadians at risk.
Mr Killeen said it had been the case that in the withdrawal or completion of virtually every mission, the authorities were not aware where the next one would be.
“That was certainly true of Liberia, probably true of Ethiopia and Eritrea, certainly true of Chad,” he added.
“Unfortunately, there are always situations where the UN intervention is required and I am quite sure that, sadly, there will be such occasions in the future.”
Mr Killeen said the Government would be prepared to send troops to any such location if there was certainty about the mandate.
“That is the key requirement, and, arising from that, the safety and security of our personnel,” he added.