GOVERNMENT DELAYS AND a lack of action on critical equipment have caused the rescue mission of Irish citizens in Sudan a “mission impossible”, an Independent TD has claimed.
Cathal Berry served as an officer in Irish Army Ranger Wing, the military unit tasked with assisting Department of Foreign Affairs diplomats on the rescue in the war ravaged African country.
Berry, who led a team of Rangers on a special forces mission in Chad during his time in the Irish Defence Forces, said that two key failings mean that his former colleagues will struggle in their mission to Sudan.
“We know from the Kabul rescue mission what is needed and how it needs to be carried out.
“The behaviour here has turned this from a challenging mission to a mission impossible for these young soldiers. We are putting them in harm’s way because the State has increased the risk to the point of making this a much more dangerous mission,” he said.
The ARW team have traveled in two seperate groups, known as “chalks” in military speak, to the mission.
A team of four Rangers travelled with consular staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday on board a series of commercial airline flights while a second group left Dublin this afternoon on board an Air Corps CASA.
Sources have said they will link up with a European military force, likely France’s, to fly the rest of the distance to the east African country of Djibouti, which is being used by international special forces units as a staging area for their operation.
50 Irish citizens have already been rescued on board French and Spanish military aircraft – it is understood another 100 or so have registered with the DFA and require a rescue.
A key difficulty for the Irish mission, sources say, is the lack of capacity to operate their own aircraft in and out of the country.
It’s also believed that Irish troops, because of a lack of strategic airlift capability, will have to borrow vehicles if a arises need to go into Khartoum in Sudan to rescue trapped citizens.
Berry claims that the Irish State has already failed on two key aspects of the mission: the provision of adequate transport for the rescue team; and the incorrect interpretation of legislation to deploy troops.
He suggests that claims that the operation is limited to just 12 troops due to the Triple Lock policy are inaccurate.
Currently, to send more than 12 Irish troops abroad, there needs to be approval by the Government, approval by the Dáil and a UN Resolution to mandate the mission.
The Irish state can send more troops on this operation, Berry suggests, because an amendment to the Defence Act in 2006 means that the Sudan mission is classed as a humanitarian operation and means an unlimited amount of troops can be deployed.
Berry said there should be at least 36 troops involved and that 12 soldiers is not enough.
“People in Government departments need to familiarise themselves with the legislation.
“It is incredible that on the eve of the deployment there is legal ambiguity whether we can send an adequate force or not.
“This is a major defence policy failure, this could have been solved not just days ago but months ago, it just to that beggars belief,” he said.
Berry also railed against the lack of an adequate aircraft to bring the troops from Ireland to the operational area and said reputational damage has been done to Ireland.
“The lack of logistical support is just not acceptable – not alone can we not reach our citizens in danger in Africa but we can’t even get off our own island without assistance.
“This country is a global hub for aircraft leasing. Ryanair are here, Aer Lingus are here but we still don’t have a strategic airlift capacity to conduct for our own sovereign purposes.
“Those nations we are depending on have a lot of work done, they’ve made their extractions and we are the last country in.
“We are at the end of the queue, hitch-hiking at the end of the runway dependant on tax payers from France and Germany to help us,” he added.
It is understood that the role for the ARW operators will be to manage communications and security for the diplomats.
But sources with a knowledge of ARW operations say that members may also be tasked with going into areas to carry out “interventions” where they physically extract trapped citizens.
They do not have vehicles and will have to borrow them from other states.
War fighting has seen a French convoy targeted by aircraft and the situation in Khartoum and surrounding areas is said to be too dangerous to travel by road.
It is understood the Rangers will embed themselves in the forces of other nations.
Two new C295 Maritime Patrol Aircraft are due for delivery in June and September of this year and are capable of being configured in a strategic airlift transport role if required.
Strategic airlift capability was identified and prioritised as a capability for investment following Government approval of the Commission on Defence Report as part of the move to “Level of Ambition Two” capability.
A contract was recently awarded to Airbus at a cost of €68 million for the provision of a new Fixed Wing Military Transport Aircraft for the Defence Forces.
The Airbus C295W aircraft will provide a dedicated asset to support the Defence Forces military airlift transport requirements and provide a wide contingent capability.
The Government has said previously that the aircraft will enable the Air Corps to provide a wide range of services including logistics support and transport of troops and equipment, medical evacuation and air ambulance, Special Operations Forces operations and a general utility role. Delivery of this aircraft is expected in 2025.
National security sources have said that the new military transport aircraft may provide the Defence Forces with an opportunity to access strategic heavy airlift capabilities by linking up with a pool of EU aircraft as part of the European Air Transport Command (EATC).
The EATC is a group which allows member nations access larger aircraft on a lend basis.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say