The Commander of the EU military force being deployed in Chad says his troops will be absolutely impartial in carrying out their mission.
With France's long history of colonial and post colonial involvement in the region, General Pat Nash faced a number of questions from reporters about whether his force, which is heavily dependent on the French, could operate independently from French foreign policy.
Speaking at the formal launch of the mission in Brussels, General Nash said the mission was to protect refugees and displaced persons on behalf of the UN, not to get between rebel and government forces.
General Nash said his force would operate with strict impartiality to carry out its mandate from the UN.
He said it was not his mission to get between rebel forces and the armies of Chad and the Central African Republic -
He said if the rebel forces do not interfere with the mission they will not have anything to do with them.
But he said if either side opened fire on EU troops, they would shoot back.
Ireland, France and Poland will each command a multinational battalion.
Irish troops will be deployed in the southern sector of Chad, one of the main refugee corridors from the neighbouring Darfur region of Sudan.
Read an interview with General Pat Nash here.
