BRUSSELS, December 10 (RIA Novosti) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Russia intends to provide the European Union with helicopters for a mission in Chad, the EUobserver news portal reported Monday.
In late November militants of Chad-based rebel group the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD) declared the start of military action against French and other foreign contingents in the central African country.
In line with an agreement with Chad's government, the French contingent and EU peacekeepers will in the next few weeks be deployed in the country's east to defend refugees and humanitarian workers.
UFDD rebels, who oppose President Idriss Deby's regime, have pledge to fight all foreign military formations in the country. They accuse the French government of giving diplomatic, strategic and material-technical support to the Chadian president.
