Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

The Irish troops remain the most neutral and impartial component in EUFOR. The proportion is important. It is official French policy to support the President of Chad. We are not required to do so nor am I am alleging that is Irish policy. However, I suggest that, practically, it is a complication.

My fundamental question is about the relationship between Sudan and Chad. I refer to the amassing of troops on the border. There has been allegation and counter-allegation. If the insurrectionary or rebel force reached a particular point in Chad, one would then be dealing with an international conflict and, effectively, a civil war. There would be no peace to be kept so the mandate would be different.

Does the Minister agree UN Resolution 1778 and the EUFOR mandate include the protection of humanitarian workers working for the multilateral agencies, such as the UNHCR? I am entirely sympathetic to, and in admiration of, the sophistication of the Irish component but we cannot afford confusion about the interpretation of the mandate. It must be clarified to demonstrate that it includes the protection of international humanitarian workers.

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