EU ministers seek to push forward plans for Chad mission

European Union foreign and defense ministers will attempt Monday to advance plans for deploying almost 4,000 troops to Chad and the Central African Republic to protect refugees from Sudan's Darfur region.

The bloc is struggling, however, to muster the dozen or so helicopters needed to move European soldiers quickly around the vast borderlands. Last week, the EU's top soldier said the mission may not be able to start on schedule in December.

EU military planners planned to hold talks this week to find the transport helicopters and fill other shortfalls, but military commanders are hoping Monday's ministerial meetings will lead to nations coming forward with equipment.

Gen. Henri Bentegeat, the Frenchman who heads the EU's Military Committee, said last week he was confident nations would provide the needed helicopters as well as medical and logistics units.

Nations are often wary, however, of making costly deployments of helicopters for such far-flung missions, and both NATO and the United Nations have had problems securing the aircraft for its missions in Afghanistan and Darfur, respectively.

The EU ministers are expected to approve advanced planning for the mission, to send some 3,700 to the border regions of Chad and the Central African Republic, with a 600-strong reserve based in Europe.

About half of the troops would come from France, and an Irish general would be in command.

The EU force is in addition to a planned United Nations-African Union force of 26,000 within Darfur. The UN-AU force is supposed to take control of Darfur by the end of the year, but a top U.N. official said Wednesday it would not be ready unless Sudan quickly accepted units from outside Africa and contributing countries offered helicopters and other critical equipment.

Four years of bloodshed between ethnic African rebels and Arab militias allegedly backed by the Arab-dominated government of Sudan have left an estimated 200,000 dead and driven 2.5 million from their homes.

Many of the homeless have taken shelter in camps in Chad and Central African Republic, but the violence has followed them. U.N. officials estimate that around 3 million people have been uprooted by conflicts in the region, including the fighting in Darfur and unrelated rebellions in Chad and Central African Republic.