DUBLIN, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Ireland's cabinet approved on Tuesday sending 400 Irish troops to Chad as part of a European Union peacekeeping force aimed at protecting civilians, the defence ministry said.

Irish Lt-Gen. Patrick Nash heads the EU protection force that will deploy up to 3,700 troops from several European countries across the harsh savannah and scrubland of east Chad and northeast Central African Republic. Their mission is to safeguard refugees, civilians and aid workers who have suffered waves of attacks by Arab Janjaweed militias raiding across the border from Sudan's Darfur region, where political and ethnic conflict has raged for more than four years.

"The carnage in Darfur coupled with the multiple conflicts in the border areas between Darfur, Chad and the Central African Republic has scarred the lives of countless thousands of innocent men, women and children," Irish Defence Minister Willie O'Dea said in a statement.

"It will be our job to help and protect them and today the government accepted my recommendation to deploy to the region," he added.

The defence ministry said Ireland's Dail (lower chamber) will vote next week on sending troops to Chad. Ireland's coalition government, led by the Fianna Fail party, has a parliamentary majority.

"Ireland will play a significant and substantive role in this mission as the second largest contributor," the defence ministry said.

France is due to provide the backbone of the force with contributions from other countries including the Netherlands and Poland.

French General Henri Bentegeat, the head of the EU's Military Committee, said last week he hoped troops could start deploying later this month.

But he said the force lacked helicopters and equipment, vital in the tough terrain, adding that there could be a delay without them.

Ireland's O'Dea said he had urged EU ministers at a meeting in Brussels on Monday "to move quickly" in addressing the shortfalls in transport resources.

"I am confident they will be addressed satisfactorily as gaps of this nature are not unusual during the planning phase of any overseas operation," he said. (Reporting by Jonathan Saul; Editing by Caroline Drees)

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