BRUSSELS, July 23 (RIA Novosti) - The foreign ministers of 27 European Union member states approved Monday sending EU peacekeepers to Chad and the Central African Republic in October to protect refugees from the Sudanese violence-torn province of Darfur.
The contingent is expected to total from 1,500 to 3,000 servicemen, and the final decision will be made in September.
According to UN estimates, inter-ethnic violence and disease have left as many as 400,000 dead with 2.5 million being forced to leave since the conflict began in February 2003, mostly among farming tribes, from which rebel groups fighting the central government in Khartoum draw their numbers.
Armed militias known as 'Janjaweed' which the Sudanese government denies supporting and who continue to attack civilians, are largely nomadic Arabs, and have been involved in violent battles with farmers over land ownership.
