DAKAR - A European peacekeeping force for eastern Chad can bolster humanitarian work there but its strong French component raises questions about its ability to stay neutral in a multi-sided conflict, Human Rights Watch said.

Peter Takirambudde, Africa director for the New York-based rights group, said on Wednesday he had serious concerns about the composition and effectiveness of the European Union force authorised by the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday.

The force of up to 4,000 EU troops, in addition to 300 U.N. police, is intended to act as a protective shield for refugees and civilians in Chad and Central African Republic who have suffered the spillover of violence from Sudan's Darfur.

Over the last two years, hundreds of civilians have been killed in eastern Chad in a spiral of tit-for-tat violence propelled by cross-border militia raids, rebel attacks and communal clashes that pit Arabs against non-Arabs.

Humanitarian workers operating in the desolate Chad-Sudan border area have been crying out for international protection, and the planned EU force -- which should get the final go-ahead from European defence ministers on Friday -- responds to this.

"The premise is good. ... It is never too late for humanitarian support," HRW's Takirambudde said in an interview during a visit to the Senegalese capital Dakar. "But the devil is in the details."

Takirambudde expressed concern that France, which has a military contingent stationed in its former colony Chad under an agreement with President Idriss Deby's government, will be a leading troop contributor to the EU deployment.

"If you go in as an international force, the position of neutrality is crucial," he said. "The French ... have a long-standing cohabitation with Deby ... so issues of neutrality arise. To what extent can the French be neutral?"

France has used its military aircraft to give logistic and intelligence support to Deby's army in operations against east Chadian rebel groups, some Arab-dominated and backed by Sudan.

In Central African Republic, Paris has intervened even more muscularly, sending in special forces and Mirage jets to help the government army quash an insurgency in the north east.


"EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PROTECTION"

Takirambudde was also concerned that the EU force would work closely with Deby's police, and that its deployment could favour the protection of nearly 240,000 Sudanese refugees from Darfur -- whose U.N.-run camps are strung along Chad's eastern border -- over the security of displaced Chadians, especially Arabs.

"It doesn't offer equal opportunity protection. We are concerned about the rights of the Arabs," Takirambudde said.

This could lead to a backlash from the anti-Deby Chadian rebels, some of whom have already warned the EU force they will fight it if it tries to obstruct their struggle to oust Deby. His foes accuse him of clan-based and autocratic rule.

"The Arabs could see the EU force as an extension of Deby and target it," Takirambudde said, adding this would throw fuel on the fire of an already explosive regional conflict.

He also noted Chad's government would remain in charge of the eastern frontier with Darfur, leaving open the possibility that pro-Deby rebels might still be able to cross freely.

Takirambudde said the EU deployment in Chad, which complements an even bigger African Union-U.N. peacekeeping plan for Darfur, needed to address these issues to be credible.

"It's not a panacea. ... It could end up being just symbolic ... a Western show over the Darfur issue," he said.