EU Troops to Help Darfur Refugees

European Union governments will next week give the green light for 3,000 troops to be sent to Chad to protect refugees from the neighboring Darfur region of Sudan and help demobilize thousands of children forced to take up arms.

Human rights and aid organizations yesterday pressed EU foreign ministers, who meet in Brussels on Monday, to set "robust" rules of engagement for the troops, enabling them to fire when they and refugees are under attack and to arrest wanted war criminals.

The EU is expected to give the final go-ahead for the mission after the UN adopts a resolution - expected next month or early in September - calling for a 26,000-strong African Union-UN force for Darfur.

The mission, a French initiative discussed by EU officials with the UN head of peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, yesterday, would last six to 12 months. Mr Guehenno told Reuters he hoped the EU would protect a corridor 560 miles by 125-250 miles in Chad and said he expected ministers to send a "strong signal" that would allow the UN to begin detailed planning. According to Lotte Leicht, EU director of Human Rights Watch, the mission would eventually be replaced by 1,300 police, including 300 from overseas.