European Union troops heading to eastern Chad will avoid taking sides in the country's rebellion but will attack anyone endangering civilians, the EU force commander has said.
Some 3,700 European troops - including 400 from Ireland - are due in the central African country, where rebels attacked the capital last week leading to at least 160 deaths and thousands of civilians fleeing to neighbouring Cameroon.
The Irish contingent will deploy with the EU force (Eufor) in the northeast some 800 km away from the capital N'Djamena, where the worst fighting occurred.
It is meant to complement a much larger joint UN-African Union force over Chad's eastern border in Sudan's Darfur region, where civil conflict has fuelled a spiral of violence that has engulfed the two neighbouring countries.
The EU, UN and African Union troops have a mandate to protect civilians and aid workers affected by the Darfur conflict. Its role is security rather than peacekeeping meaning there is scope for military engagement.
French General Jean-Philippe Ganascia, who plans to resume the force's interrupted deployment next week and be operational by the end of March, told Reuters in an interview that he would not hesitate to attack anyone threatening civilians in the east.
"If I have all the intelligence needed to know that those people I am now facing are going to attack somebody else, I will attack them too. I won't wait for them to attack if I can attack first," Gen Ganascia said.
But he said his troops would not block any rebel advance, such as the one that crossed the arid, oil-producing country last week from the east to N'Djamena, unless civilians were in danger.
Nevertheless, the EU force would step up security on the road linking its eastern headquarters in Abeche, where the Irish will be based, to N'Djamena, where it will establish a compound.
Chadian President Idriss Deby accuses Sudan of backing the rebels and called on Thursday for the EU force to deploy soon.
The European mission will be made up largely of French troops, with smaller contributions from other European states. Ireland's contingent is the second largest and overall operational command lies with Irish general Patrick Nash.
France already has troops and war planes stationed in Chad under a bilateral accord, and has vowed robust support for the government in its former colony since last weekend's attack.
Analysts say France's position compromises the neutrality of the European mission, and some rebel leaders threatened last year to attack European troops if they stood in their way.
But Gen Ganascia, who reports to Gen Nash at the force's strategic headquarters in France, insisted there would be no confusion with the French force, known as Epervier (Hawk).
"There is not a single common point between their mission and ours," he said.