Inter Press Service: Chad Peacekeepers Try to Tread Lightly

"Polish army Lieutenant Colonel Marc Gryga didn’t realize he was planning on building his country’s major base here in eastern Chad on top of a cemetery. “It didn’t look like any cemetery you see in the United States or Europe,” he says, referring to absence of headstones.
But local leaders from this remote town near the Sudan border weren’t shy about telling Gryga he’d screwed up – and EUFOR, the 4,000-strong European Union peacekeeping force deploying to Chad to protect Darfuri refugees and aid workers, promptly agreed to build the “North Star” base somewhere else. Fortunately Gryga’s troops had not broken ground yet, so the course change was not drastic.

The misunderstanding over the Polish base was just the first in a series of minor clashes between EUFOR and Chadians. In addition to choosing a location for the base, access to local water supplies and damage that EUFOR’s military vehicles are doing to the country’s fragile roads have also caused friction.

One issue — water — might just prove too contentious for lasting compromise.

Read the rest at Inter Press Service."
War is Boring