By Moumine Ngarmbassa N'DJAMENA, March 17 (Reuters) - A European Union military force deploying in Chad's eastern borderlands became operational on Monday, starting a one-year mission to protect refugees, civilians and humanitarian operations. The force, called EUFOR, is expected eventually to have 3,700 troops from more than a dozen European countries. France, the former colonial power in Chad, is providing half the troops. "The equipment and units currently available allow us to declare that EUFOR has achieved its initial operational capacity," the EU force said in a statement sent to Reuters. It said this marked the effective start of its 12-month mandate, approved by the U.N. Security Council in September. EUFOR did not say how many of its troops had arrived in the landlocked central African country, hit by conflict spilling over from Sudan's war-torn Darfur and by a domestic insurgency. The EU force suffered its first death earlier this month when two French soldiers strayed across the border into Sudan and came under fire from the Sudanese army. A French soldier was shot dead and Sudan said five civilians were killed. The U.N. resolution authorised EUFOR to take "all necessary measures" to protect half a million Sudanese refugees and local civilians in east Chad who have fled the violence affecting Darfur and parts of Chad. A smaller offshoot of the EU force has a similar protection role in neighbouring Central African Republic. The EUFOR deployment has been much delayed, most recently when rebels attacked the Chadian capital N'Djamena in early February. They withdrew after two days. Chad announced at the weekend that it was lifting the state of emergency imposed on Feb. 14 after the rebel raid. Critics of President Idriss Deby's rule and human rights groups have accused government security forces of carrying out arbitrary arrests of political opponents and stifling dissent. Chad has often accused neighbour Sudan of supporting rebels opposed to Deby. Khartoum rejects the charge and says Chad backs anti-government rebels in Darfur, where some 200,000 people have been killed since a rebellion broke out in 2003. Deby and his Sudanese counterpart Omar Hassan al-Bashir signed a non-aggression pact in Dakar, Senegal, last week, pledging to stop supporting hostile insurgents. But a string of past peace accords between the two have failed, and only hours before they signed the Dakar accord, Chad accused Sudan of sending Chadian rebel columns over the border. Khartoum denied this. But at least two Chadian rebel groups have rejected the lastet accord and vowed to pursue their campaign to topple Deby unless he agrees to peace talks. The rebels say France's military is propping up Deby and say they may attack the European troops if these interfere in their operations against government forces. EU commanders have said they will stay out of the domestic Chadian conflict. One rebel leader, Timane Erdimi, threatened on Sunday to attack Chad's oil-producing southern region unless France and the United States pressured Deby into negotiating a deal. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (Writing by Pascal Fletcher, editing by Tim Pearce)
Police chase and beat demonstrators in the Nepali capital Kathmandu March 17, 2008. Tibetan refugees in Nepal were demanding justice in front of the UN office in Kathmandu regarding the crackdown ...
