"The reason why the planning is not yet complete is that the composition of the EU force was only decided at a late stage. At the moment we are working together with the mission operational headquarters in Paris in order to determine the date for the transportation of the Swedish contingent", says Anders Lindström, Sweden's Head of Operations.
Due to the limited infrastructure in Chad, the build-up phase of the European force poses quite a puzzle as far as the matching of the various countries’ needs and resources is concerned.
The Swedish force, TD01, consists of 200 soldiers from the First Marine Regiment. Finland is also contributing just over 60 soldiers. The force is fully trained and is now waiting for the transport planning to be finalised.
"We are looking forward to travelling out. Everyone has trained in the expectation that an operation would be mounted. So it is good that the decision has finally been taken", says Peder Olsson, Commander of the Swedish Chad Force TD01.