By Pascal Fletcher
DAKAR, Oct 25 (Reuters) - The European Union force tasked with protecting civilians in eastern Chad, one of Africa's most violent zones, will be mobile and well armed to confront hostile groups in the dauntingly rugged terrain, its commander said.
Irish Lt-Gen. Patrick Nash heads the EU protection force that will next month start deploying up to 3,000 troops from several European countries across the harsh savannah and scrubland of east Chad and northeast Central African Republic.
Their mission is to safeguard refugees, civilians and aid workers who have suffered waves of attacks by Arab Janjaweed militias raiding across the border from Sudan's Darfur region, where political and ethnic conflict has raged for four years.
Added to the volatile mix are fractious Chadian rebel groups opposed to President Idriss Deby and tense inter-communal relations that often erupt into bloodletting between rival warrior clans competing for livestock, water and pasture rights.
"There is a multiplicity of factions and spoilers operating in the area, but at the same time this will be a force that will be well-armed and mobile, which we would hope to have very good air assets," Nash told Reuters from Chad's capital N'Djamena.
"We will carry out our mandate in a robust fashion if needs be," he added in a telephone interview late on Wednesday.
Nash, who has experience of peacekeeping operations in Lebanon and the Balkans, said he had just completed a two-day, 4,000 km (2,500-mile) "recce" (reconnaissance) of what will be the EU force's vast area of operations in Chad and CAR.
"The logistics element of it will be quite daunting," he said, adding that in the coming days he would brief EU leaders on just what kind of military assets, including planes and helicopters, his force would need to pack an effective punch.
Around 400,000 Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadians are housed in United Nations-run camps located along the porous Chad-Sudan border. Foreign relief workers have been clamouring from protection from raids, rapes and car hijackings.
"Sometime in mid-November, we will put initial people on the ground," Nash said, although he made clear the EU force's U.N.-authorised mandate did not extend to securing Chad's border with Darfur, across which rebel groups repeatedly cross.
"STRICTLY NEUTRAL"
The Irish commander said the EU mission, which precedes a much bigger planned United Nations/African Union peacekeeping deployment in Darfur, would carry out an early public information campaign in Chad and CAR to explain its role.
Some analysts question whether the EU force, roughly half of whose troops will come from former colonial power France, will be seen as neutral in Chad and Central African Republic.
French military contingents already stationed in these countries under bilateral treaties have helped their government forces beat back rebel offensives over the last two years.
But Nash said the troops under his command would be "strictly neutral".
"The humanitarian aspect is number one and number two is security and we are not involved in the internal affairs of either Chad or Central African Republic," he insisted.
Besides France, Ireland, Poland and Sweden are among countries that have pledged soldiers, but Nash said more than 20 states could end up being involved in the mission in some form.
Intense international diplomatic efforts are under way to negotiate peace deals for Darfur and the linked local conflicts in neighbouring states, but Nash said military intervention alone was not enough to end fighting and humanitarian suffering.
"A political and diplomatic agreement is what will bring eventual lasting peace and security to this region," he said.
"We are merely in a position to protect misfortunate people who are in a very dire situation at the moment," Nash added.
