PARIS, July 12 (Reuters) - The European Union is considering sending troops to protect Darfur refugees in Chad ahead of the arrival of a planned African and U.N. force in western Sudan, the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Thursday. Solana met French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday to discuss various international crises, including the four-year-old Darfur conflict. "During my meeting with President Sarkozy, we talked about the possibility of deploying rapidly, in cooperation with the president of Chad, a temporary European Union force tasked with protecting refugee camps in Chad," Solana said in an interview with La Croix newspaper. In the interview, which was released ahead of publication on Friday, Solana said any EU troops would stay in Chad until the arrival of a joint United Nations and African Union force. "some European countries are ready to cooperate with this U.N.-AU) force," he added, without giving further details. France last month asked the EU to send up to 12,000 troops to Chad to set up a humanitarian corridor to Darfur refugees. At the time, EU officials played down the idea and Solana did not say whether it was now more likely to be adopted. International experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven into miserable camps during fighting in the lawless Darfur region. EU foreign ministers are due to discuss Sudan when they next meet on July 23, looking at what the EU can do to support an existing AU force in the region and what could be done in Chad, an EU official said in Brussels on Thursday. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said last month he wanted to see a European force move into eastern Chad to help secure its volatile border with Sudan. Faced with large numbers of refugees arriving from Darfur, and struggling to contain violence linked to the Darfur conflict and a domestic rebellion, Chad has repeatedly called for international assistance to protect refugees.
