FIFTY ARMY Rangers and 60 military construction personnel are due back from Chad this morning following a 48-hour delay in their return to Ireland.
The 110-strong party was meant to arrive back on Monday, but a technical fault with a chartered civilian aircraft forced a cancellation of the flight plans.
The 50 special forces soldiers from the Army Ranger Wing had been based in Chad since mid-February. The construction personnel have been in the country since April 24th to help prepare the Irish Camp Ciara base for the 400 Irish troops who will take part in the European peace enforcement mission (EUfor) in the Chad-Darfur border region.
The advance construction team included engineers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and plant operators, along with other experts.
The original aircraft in which the group was due to travel to Ireland developed an engine fault on Sunday in the UK and a replacement craft was ordered at short notice. Flight clearance was also needed while an air traffic dispute in France was ongoing, a spokesman for the Defence Forces said.
The replacement aircraft initially arrived in Dublin yesterday to take up supplies for the Irish battalion working in the north central African state and was due in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, before 9pm last night, before returning to Dublin with the troops at 7.15 this morning.
The Defence Forces spokesman added: “Delays of this duration are unusual. In the last five years the Defence Forces has contracted over 100 charter aircraft to deploy our personnel and equipment to various missions throughout the world and this is the first time a delay of this timeframe has taken place.”
The Rangers were sent to Chad as part of an initial entry force made up of elite units from five European armies taking part in the Eufor operation.
The Ranger wing, which numbers 100 members and is based in the Curragh Camp, Co Kildare, is now almost 30 years in existence.
Following an IRA kidnapping in 1975, the government decided that a highly trained combat squad was needed, and the Army Ranger wing was formally established in 1980.