NDJAMENA, 10 April 2008 (IRIN) - The training of 77 national police commanders for a special force to provide security in refugee camps, sites for displaced Chadians and towns in eastern Chad, is set to start on 14 April, according to a spokesman for the UN Mission in Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT).

The commanders of the force, known as the DIS [Détachement intégré de sécurité], were initiated in a ceremony on 9 April at the Academy of the Gendarmerie in Chad's capital N'djamena. MINURCAT said in a statement that its mandate is to "select, train, advise and provide support to elements of the Chadian police and gendarmerie who will be part of the DIS".

The training of the commanders was delayed by fighting in February between rebels and the army in N'djamena, according to the UN Secretary General's report of 1 April.

"A total of 850 officers will eventually make up the DIS," MINURCT spokesman Penangnini Toure told IRIN on 10 April. The training of the first batch of 220 officers is to commence upon completion of the training of the commanders. Neither MUNICART nor the Secretary General's report offered a date for when that might be.

MUNICART, which is mostly mandated to train and mentor security forces, is operating along side EUFOR, the European Union military force for Chad and Central African Republic, which deployed on 28 January and currently has a troop strength in Chad of approximately 1,750 personnel, the 1 April report said.

EUFOR is set to build to around 3,700 troops. It is expected to be fully deployed before the rainy season starts in June and will provide security for the five MINURCAT police stations envisaged for Goz Beida, Farchana, Guéréda, Iriba, and Bahai in eastern Chad and the area of Birao in the Central African Republic, the report said.

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