PARIS, June 18 (Xinhua) -- The European peacekeeping forces, which have been deployed to protect refugees and internally displaced persons in parts of eastern Chad, are behaving "strictly" in accordance with their mandate, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana has said.

    Speaking Tuesday, Solana, who was addressing reporters on the sidelines of an international defense exhibition dubbed Eurosatory, appeared to be responding to Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno who has accused the European force of working in cahoots with a simmering rebellion.

    "The mission of the peacekeeping force has not changed," said Solana, adding that the main purpose of the United Nations-mandated European peacekeeping mission was to protect civilian populations and humanitarian workers.

    "France, which is providing 2,100 of the 3,500 soldiers serving under the EUFOR is well deployed and is in the process of fulfilling a mission that is well known throughout the world," said the EU foreign policy chief.

    "There is no other function than the function that has been outlined for the force. Everyone behaves strictly according to the mandate of the force," he said.

    Asked to comment remarks by Chadian President Idriss Deby, who has notably accused the EUFOR of "cooperating" with rebel forces seeking his ouster, Solana was quoted as saying: "I do not think these statements amounts to accusations."

    "President Deby has made statements at a particularly difficult moment," said Solana, referring to the fact that a rebel alliance had launched a new push against government forces in the east since June 11.

    "But the cooperation that we have with him is a deep cooperation. I was with him down there, maybe one or two weeks ago and I still talk to him frequently," said the EU the diplomat-in-chief.

    The EUFOR, which has been placed under an Irish command, is mandated to protect refugees fleeing a civil war in the troubled western Sudanese province of Darfur as well as internally displaced population in Chad and the neighboring Central African Republic.

    On Saturday, the Irish soldiers were forced to fire warning shots to deter rebels from entering a camp at Jebel, near Goz Beida, southeastern Chad, where up to 16,000 Sudanese refugees have sought shelter.

    "The European forces are doing a fantastic job. People, who have been protected, are very happy," said Solana, noting that the looting and destruction of property belonging to non-governmental organization working around the area could "not be blamed on the EUFOR."

    Last February, Idriss Deby had called for a swift deployment of the European peacekeepers after he narrowly survived a rebel offensive, mainly through the indirect support of the French military, which had helped ship in critically needed ammunitions besides supplying intelligence.

    "The criticisms of the EUFOR by the Chadian president could be explained by recent statements attributed to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warning that France would no longer intervene in the Chadian conflict," said one Brussels-based EU diplomat.