The EU will launch the biggest military operation in its history tomorrow.
The 3,700-strong UN-mandated peacekeeping force for Chad and the Central African Republic will help protect hundreds of thousands of refugees from the strife-torn Darfur region of neighbouring Sudan.
A European diplomat has said that all the conditions are now fulfilled so that EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels tomorrow, can confirm the rapid launch of the operation.
The departure of the first elements is expected to follow quickly and the deployment will begin in the first week of February.
Some Chadian rebels have expressed fears that the European force will help prop up Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno, an ally of Paris. However French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has said the EU mission was solely to protect displaced refugees.
A draft agreement on the force, to be endorsed by the EU foreign ministers tomorrow, emphasises that it will operate in a 'neutral, impartial and independent manner'.
Last Thursday the Austrian defence ministry announced that it would dispatch an advance team to Chad this week, ahead of its 160-strong contingent expected in February as part of the EU's force there.
Chad mission
Some 234,000 Darfur refugees, along with 178,000 displaced eastern Chadians and 43,000 Central Africans, also uprooted by strife and rebellion in the north of their country, are housed in camps in the region.
In accordance with a UN Security Council resolution the 'military bridging operation' will operate for one year.
The force will be commanded by Irish Lt General Pat Nash and have its official headquarters in France.
It had originally been due to deploy last November but a reluctance to provide troops and material held up progress.
The force's leader on the ground, in eastern Chad, will be French General Jean-Philippe Ganascia.
Soldiers from 14 countries will take part, including 2,000 French, 400 Irish and 400 Polish troops.
Almost €120m has been earmarked for the mission, but military officials say the real cost could be €1bn.
At least 200,000 people have died from war, famine and disease in Darfur and more than two million have fled their homes since rebels took up arms against Khartoum in 2003, complaining of the region's political and economic marginalisation, according to the UN.
