DAKAR (Reuters) – Chad has accepted a UN proposal to extend the mandate of its peacekeeping force in the West African country until May 15, the UN Secretary General’s special representative said yesterday.
That gives the 5,000-strong mission known as MINURCAT an extra two months after the force’s mandate to secure aid for hundreds of thousands of refugees is due to expire. UN diplomats said they hoped to use that time to work out a plan for a longer term “phased withdrawal” of the force.
Chadian President Idriss Deby had said he wants MINURCAT to leave the country, while the UN says withdrawing it would endanger refugees and civilians and humanitarian efforts.
“We had a meeting (on Monday) with the president and later with the prime minister, and we have agreed that there will be an extension of two months … until May 15,” Victor Angelo told Reuters by telephone from Chad.
During the coming two months, MINURCAT and the government will jointly plan next steps, “with the understanding that there will be a serious reduction of military presence,” Angelo said.
“The door is open for the continuation of the mission … as long as we can agree on configuration,” he said.
Any UN proposal would have to be approved by the Security Council, which is in charge of peacekeeping mandates.
MINURCAT’s task is to secure humanitarian activities in the northeast of Chad, a region known for lawlessness and banditry.
UN officials say there are about half a million refugees in the area, half of them from the violence-torn Darfur region of neighbouring Sudan and the rest from Chad and the Central African Republic.