Withdrawal of peacekeepers prompts fear in Chad

Finland considers pulling out of troops if UN fails to provide fuel replenishments before rainy season

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Finn Church Aid (FCA) will not discontinue assisting the refugee camps in Chad, even if Finland and Ireland were to pull out their peacekeeping troops from the area, says FCA Executive Director Antti Pentikäinen.
      Still, Pentikäinen expresses his concerns over what may happen in Chad if the peacekeepers are withdrawn. Pentikäinen would not rule out even the possibility of mass killings.
     
“One must prepare oneself for the camps becoming unsafe. Radicalisation of the camps is likely to take place. The refugees in the camps will arm themselves, and it may well happen that patrols from the camps will then enter into Sudan to assess the guerrilla situation in the refugees’ home regions. This could easily lead to retaliation against the camps”, Pentikäinen reckons.
      FCA assists the Habile and Aradib refugee camps in Eastern Chad. In three camps, there are 56,000 refugees from the restless Darfur area in Sudan.
      FCA has the general command of the international aid operation in the camps, but there are no Finns in the area. The organisation will decide today on additional relief worth EUR 200,000. FCA’s aid budget this year to the area will reach EUR one million.
     
In Chad there are 63 Finnish peacekeepers in the UN-led EU peacekeeping operation. They operate from the Goz Beida base, led by the Irish.
      Finland is considering pulling out its peacekeepers from Chad, because the security situation there has weakened and the rainy season that will begin in June will put a stop to the UN fuel deliveries.
      According to the Minister of Defence Jyri Häkämies (Nat. Coalition Party), the decision regarding the possible pulling out of troops will be made within a couple of weeks.
     
“We expect the fuel reserves to be replenished before the rainy season. During the rainy season the camp is in isolation and everything depends on the sufficiency of fuel. We have been promised that there will be fuel, and that is what we are waiting for”, Häkämies says.
      “If the supplementary fuel does not arrive, a serious alternative is to evacuate the main body of our troops there”, Häkämies says. According to Häkämies, the United Nations is a “civil organisation” that for “some reason” just cannot get the fuel deliveries moving.
      “It would be a question of a partial temporary withdrawal. I imagine after the rainy season we could return to the area.”
     
According to Pentikäinen, not too long ago some guerrillas fired shots in the Koukou camp, where there are FCA aid workers. Luckily no-one was hurt. The Irish who patrol near the camp did nothing about the shooting, which has caused Pentikäinen to consider the powers of the peacekeepers.
      “The Finns’ mission is to safeguard the UN aid workers and the deliveries to and from the camps. If there is gunfire against the peacekeepers they have the right to defend themselves, but that is the extent of their powers”, Häkämies emphasises.
     
In February the Finnish Parliament supported the idea of increasing the number of peacekeepers in Chad. Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition Party), who presented the case to the Parliament, admitted nevertheless that the operation is extremely demanding and not without risks.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish NGO promotes peace in strife-torn Somalia (26.2.2008)
  Vanguard of Finnish EUFOR peacekeepers heads for Chad (20.2.2008)
  Repatriation of Finnish EU troops from Chad delayed by one week (2.12.2008)

Links:
  Finn Church Aid

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