Irish troops are bracing themselves for a potential flashpoint next week as war crimes verdict is due
THE GREEN camouflage uniforms and armoured personnel carriers are easy to pick out from the air against the brown baked earth. As the UN helicopter carrying the visiting party from Ireland lands, the soldiers cover their faces with scarves to protect themselves from the sand thrown up by the chopper’s rotor blades.
Lean, heavily armed, and tanned from an unrelenting sun in 50 degree heat, they look like men and women not to be trifled with.
This is Koukou Angarama, a remote part of eastern Chad’s Sila region along the border with Darfur. The 105 Irish troops on the ground are conducting a week-long mobile patrol to assess the security threat from heavily armed rebel and bandit factions.
In a region torn apart by years of fierce fighting that has forced almost 500,000 to flee from their villages, this is the front line of peace enforcement in the land they call the “Dead Heart of Africa”. The troops on patrol are 30km from their Camp Ciara base in Goz Beida and if they come under fire – as they did last June – they must fight their way out alone.
They have come prepared; all carry a Steyr rifle. They have 12 MOWAG armoured personnel carriers equipped with mortars and heavy machine guns. Three Scania trucks in the convoy are packed with fuel, food, water and vehicle spare parts.
Those on patrol have state-of-the-art communications and night vision gear as well as bomb disposal equipment.
MUCH HAS CHANGED for the 416 Irish troops serving in Chad with the EU’s peace enforcement mission (EUfor) and for the country itself since this reporter first visited last May.
During the following month, the Irish were fired on by rebel factions while on patrol and were forced to return warning shots. Just weeks later the area close to the Irish camp was engulfed by serious unrest. Anti-government rebels looted UN and aid agency premises, fired shots, threatened and terrorised staff and stole fuel, vehicles and money.
The violence led to accusations from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff that the Irish troops had done little to protect them despite their base being just a few kilometres away.
Violent attacks continued and in October of last year three international non-governmental organisations – Médecins Sans Frontières, Action Against Hunger and the International Committee of the Red Cross – withdrew from eastern Chad citing the deteriorating security situation.
The year had begun with the Chadian government almost losing control of the capital, N’Djamena, during a rebel onslaught in February. And by the autumn it appeared serious violence was continuing unabated in eastern Chad, despite the deployment there of much of EUfor’s 3,300-strong multinational force.
But then the Irish and their international EUfor colleagues found an unusual ally; the spike in global oil prices.
Just as EUfor was getting acquainted with the violent reality of its mission in the first half of last year, the Chadian government’s coffers were filling up with the increased price they were getting for the oil they produce.
Despite governing one of the poorest nations in the world, Chad’s President Idriss Deby decided he would spend the money – an estimated €500 million – on the military. He wanted to finally gain an upper hand on the rebel groupings so intent on removing him from office.
He bought four SU-25 fighter jets and three Mi-35 attack helicopters, all flown by Ukrainian and South African mercenaries.
He retrained the army and recruited more personnel. The Chadians also acquired around 300 AML-90 armoured cars and Humvee vehicles.
The rebels – funded by the government of Sudan and by China – have responded by ditching their regular 4X4 jeeps in favour of new armoured vehicles.
President Deby has deployed thousands of heavily armed soldiers along the border with Sudan’s Darfur region. Deby wants to avoid a repeat of last February’s offensive, when the rebels drove almost 2,000km from Darfur to N’Djamena unopposed to attack the city.
So far EUfor has reaped the rewards. Not only has its show of strength on patrol in recent months deterred rebels and bandits alike, but the Chadian army’s reorganisation has further stabilised the region and even the aid agencies have returned to eastern Chad.
But the calm might be ruptured as early as next Wednesday when the International Criminal Court is due to make its decision on issuing a war crimes arrest warrant for President Omar al Bashir of Sudan.
The Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea, who was in Chad this week with Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lieut Gen Dermot Earley, warned of a potential flashpoint for our troops if the Sudanese president is arrested.
Mr O’Dea said the Sudanese government might disintegrate and that different armed factions could attack each other, with violence possibly spilling over into the area where the Irish are located. However, both he and Lieut Gen Earley said the Irish were well placed to handle anything that came their way.
EUFOR’S MAIN mandate is to protect the refugees and internally displaced persons in camps and to create a safe environment in which UN and humanitarian staff can operate.
When the UN assumes control of the mission from EUfor on March 15th troops numbers will swell from 3,300 at present to 5,200, with an extra 300 police.
However, the force’s area of responsibility is being widened and it will also be called on to escort aid convoys to refugee and internally displaced persons camps thousands of kilometres across Chad, a country twice the size of France with less than 500km of paved roads.
This week, ahead of a period of possible Sudan-related violence, the atmosphere among the Irish was calm when The Irish Timesvisited them on patrol and at their Camp Ciara desert posting. In the sunshine outside their mess hall – where troops play darts, table tennis, Playstations and pool – Mr O'Dea gave them a rousing, well-received, unscripted address.
“We are going through some difficulties back home. They will pass. (Your) presence here is the difference between life and death.”
He said the mission was enhancing Ireland’s standing within the international community and would have a lasting legacy.
Capt Karen Rynn, a 32-year-old from Blanchardstown, Dublin, and now based in McKee Barracks in the city, has given up a successful career in Ericsson’s mobile phone company to make her contribution to that “lasting legacy”.
A member of the Reserve Defence Forces for 12 years, she joined the Permanent Defence Forces three years ago. Having studied electrical and mechanical engineering in DIT Kevin St, her skills are proving invaluable to the Chad mission.
Newly married, she has left her husband back in Ireland to come for a four-month tour and is commanding a platoon of 18 engineers; all of whom are men.
They maintain the water and sewage system in Camp Ciara and perform fire fighting and bridge building duties outside the camp.
“I’ve always wanted to do something like this,” she says. “I’m in for life.”
Comdt Fintan McCarthy (33), from Beaumont, Dublin, joined the Defence Forces 15 years ago. As a qualified barrister he usually prosecutes court martials but in Chad he is advising the 99th Infantry Battalion on legal matters arising from the handover of the mission next month to the UN.
He says the rules of engagement of peace enforcement missions can be “robust” and that it is vital all personnel are fully briefed on what level of force they can use and under what circumstances.
“The conditions are tough, but the camp is excellent and that keeps morale up. The lives of the refugees and internally displaced persons have improved since the Irish have arrived in that we’ve given them a safe and secure environment.”
Cmdt Niall Buckley (40), from Clare Hall, north Dublin, is the head of the engineering company in Chad. His 52 personnel drive and maintain the 100 vehicles that keep the Irish moving.
“A vehicle service back home would happen every 10,000 miles but here with all the sand clogging things up it’s every 1,000 miles, so it’s hectic.”
Cmdt Buckley has left his wife, Yvonne, and two children – Evan (16 months) and Lauren (7) – at home to come to Chad. It is his 10th overseas mission following stints in Lebanon, Bosnia, Kosovo, Eritrea and Liberia. His last trip, to Kosovo, concluded last November.
“Yvonne is at home working full time and she’s also looking after the kids. It’s very hard for her coming in after work doing that, so I reckon I have the easy job out here.”