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 Chad's history of abuse
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As violence escalates and the country's infrastructure crumbles, those charged with serving Chad have seriously been found wanting
Meera Selva
The Guardian
February 4, 2008
In the rainy season, you can always find a party in full swing along riverbanks across Chad. The country's president, Idriss Déby, has not got round to spending any of the country's $400m of oil revenue on building bridges across these rivers, so when the waters are swollen, truck drivers simply set up camp on the banks, open the cigarettes and whisky and wait for the rains to stop. Women from the local villages come out, bringing tea and food. When the rains get so heavy that they threaten to wash roads away altogether, the army gets sent out to build roadblocks and stop people travelling on them. One soldier manning the blocks told me proudly that this proved just how much the president cared about the country's infrastructure. It had occurred to no one to build proper roads
When Chad first discovered oil, it cut a deal with the World Bank, promising to use most oil revenues for poverty reduction, in return for financial assistance in building a pipeline. Five years later, it reneged on the deal and diverted most of the oil revenues towards the security sector instead. Even this was hardly money well spent. On Sunday, rebel groups stormed the capital N'Djamena and put the presidential palace under siege. They have now withdrawn, but the country still remains on the brink of a coup
Chad is a mess, and a story of missed opportunity. Déby seized power after a civil war in 1990 and clung on to it through a series of rigged elections, attempted coups and rebellions, with the support of French security forces. The country began exporting oil in 2003, with the help of global corporations and international institutions, but none of Déby's international supporters have persuaded him to build in democracy or good governance
So although the country now exports some 160,000 barrels of oil a day, there is no system of public schooling, and hardly any electricity outside the capital. The international watchdog Transparency International has named Chad as the most corrupt country in Africa and the people have little respect for their leaders
Chad's neighbours, meanwhile, continue their long-standing policies of backing various rebellions for their own ends
This current conflict in Chad has deep roots. The rebels are backed by the Sudanese government, which in turn blames Déby for supporting rebels in Darfur. In the 1980s, Muammar Gadafy stirred up more trouble by arming various rebel groups in the region as part of an attempt to create a belt of Arab influence across the Sahel. People still remember his malevolent influence, and the African Union is being incredibly forgiving, forgetful or stupid to give him the role of trying to sort out Chad's current crisis
But this seems to be Chad's fate. To be ignored, manipulated and exploited by the very people appointed to look after it
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Re: Chad's history of abuse (Re: Mohamed Omer)
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Austrian soldiers during a farewell ceremony ahead of their assignment to eastern Chad in Vienna January 29, 2008. The soldiers are part of EUFOR European troops to protect civilians and aid workers caught up in the violence in neighbouring Darfur
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Re: Chad's history of abuse (Re: Mohamed Omer)
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Roots for the Chad Conflict
Elizabeth Stewart, Chris McGreal and agencies
Monday February 4, 2008
Guardian Unlimited
Rebel forces withdrew from Chad's capital N'Djamena overnight, having laid siege to the palace where President Idriss Déby was making a last-ditch attempt to save his 18-year authoritarian rule
A spokesman for the rebels, Abderaman Koulamallah, claimed they had retreated voluntarily in order to give the population a chance to evacuate the city
But the government said it had control of the city. Speaking to Radio France Internationale, the interior minister, Ahmat Mahamat Bachir, said: "The whole of N'Djamena is under control and the savage mercenaries are routed."
Witnesses in the capital said government soldiers were patrolling the streets ahead of a planned UN security council meeting today to resume work on a presidential statement on the situation in Chad
The security council met for emergency consultations on the situation yesterday, after which UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon released a statement saying he was "profoundly alarmed" by the fighting in N'Djamena
The death toll from the fighting is not known, but the French aid agency Medecins sans Frontières said it had operated on one combatant and about 50 civilians injured by stray bullets since Saturday
The Chadian Red Cross said about 200 people had been wounded
There were also reports of widespread #####ng of shops as government troops resisted the rebel assault with helicopter gunships and tanks
Hundreds of people have fled the fighting, crossing the Chari River to Kousseri in neighbouring Cameroon, the UN's refugee agency said
Its spokeswoman, Helene Caux, said at least 400 had crossed and "people are still coming". She said her agency needed to confirm that the refugees were civilians with no fighters among them
The Chadian government had evidently been caught unprepared by the speed of the rebels' move on the city after several thousand fighters in about 250 vehicles swept across the country in three days. Chad's army chief of staff, Daoud Soumain, was killed defending the capital
The assault has forced the European Union to delay the deployment of a 3,700-strong peacekeeping force, dominated by France, to protect hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees from Darfur now living in eastern Chad from cross-border raids
But EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana today rejected speculation that fighting in Chad would derail the EU deployment
An advance team of 70 has already been sent to set up bases, Solana said. But he conceded that EU military officials would continue to assess the situation on the ground before deploying the entire force
The EU also condemned "attempts of armed groups in Chad to seize power unconstitutionally" and called for an "immediate cessation" of hostilities
Earlier, an aide to the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, accused Sudan of backing the rebels in order to crush Déby's regime before the arrival of the peacekeeping force.
"Why did the intervention happen now?" It was the last moment - before the arrival of EUFOR, which was starting to be put in place - for Sudan to reach its goal, to try to liquidate the regime of Idriss Déby," Sarkozy's top aide, Claude Gueant, told Europe-1 radio.
The government in N'Djamena also claimed Sudan was supporting the insurgents to block the European intervention
Chad's foreign minister, Amad Allam-Mi, told Radio France Internationale: "Sudan does not want this force because it would open a window on the genocide in Darfur."
The force was to be based in the area of the key eastern town of Adre, which rebels claimed they seized on Sunday. The government said it repelled the attack
Adre, near the Darfur border, is a humanitarian hub surrounded by camps with about 420,000 refugees from Darfur and Chadians displaced in the spillover from the violence
The French news agency reported French military sources as saying there were about 2,000 rebel fighters and that Déby had up to 3,000 troops
Déby is a French-trained former fighter pilot who seized power in 1990 and has won three elections since but none were assessed to be free or fair
The most recent ballot, two years ago, was boycotted by the opposition
The rebel force attacking N'Djamena is a coalition of three groups led by Timane Erdimi, who is a close relative of Déby, and Mahamat Nouri, a former defence minister. The groups have for several years operated out of Sudan, leading Chad to accuse Khartoum of backing them.
Chad's foreign minister, Ahmad Allam-Mi, said Sudan was trying "to install a regime in Chad that will bow to it"
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Re: Chad's history of abuse (Re: Mohamed Omer)
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A corpse is pictured on a street of N'Djamena, 03 February 2008. Chadian rebels threatened an imminent attack on Chad's international airport while accusing France of playing with time to allow embattled President Idriss Deby to strike back. Hundreds of foreigners are currently trying to flee the central African country via the airport
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Re: Chad's history of abuse (Re: Mohamed Omer)
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Irish Lieutenant-General Patrick Nash, the EUFOR Operation Commander in Chad and Centrafrican Republic, addresses a news conference in Brussels January 29, 2008. European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday to send at least 3,500 troops to eastern Chad to protect civilians and aid workers caught up in the violence in neighbouring Darfur
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Re: Chad's history of abuse (Re: Mohamed Omer)
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Profile: Idriss Deby
President Deby has been accused of cronyism and political repression
Idriss Deby came to power in 1990 after toppling Chadian President Hissene Habre - with the help of the French secret service
A shrewd tactician, Mr Deby had been President Habre's chief-of-staff, leading a series of victories over rebel forces in the 1980s and earning a reputation for courage and military prowess
After six years in office, Mr Deby set up Chad's first multi-party political system and won elections that year
He was re-elected in 2001, and again in 2006 after amending the constitution, which had previously limited the president to two terms in office
But Mr Deby, 55, appeared to have little genuine domestic support
His presidency was dogged by accusations of corruption and political repression, and the 2006 poll was boycotted by opponents who claimed it was neither free nor fair
He packed his government and armed forces with members of his Zagawa clan, which comprised only 1.5% of the country's 10 million-plus population
Critics say his single biggest failure was putting his clan before his country
President Deby became known as a stubborn man who often ignored his advisors. From mid-2006 he suffered a spate of defections of former allies from his own clan to Darfur-based Chadian rebels.
Regionally he has been increasingly viewed with mistrust, and he fell out of favour with Chad's former colonial master France over drilling rights in the 1990s
President Deby is also thought to have health problems and has been known to fly to Paris for treatment to his liver
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Re: Chad's history of abuse (Re: Mohamed Omer)
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The EU and Africa: run aground already?
The ink has barely dried on Europe and Africa's 'new strategic partnership' deal, yet precious little progress has been made
David Cronin
The Guardian
January 31, 2008
Less than two months ago, European and African leaders undertook to build a "new strategic political partnership for the future" as they wrapped up a historic, if tense, summit in Lisbon
If the subtext of this declaration was that some of the EU's most powerful governments were finally prepared to abandon their imperial machinations, then sadly they have already faltered
One of the most tangible foreign policy decisions taken in Brussels so far this year was to approve the deployment of a 3,700-troop peacekeeping mission in Chad and the Central African Republic
Without doubt, an operation of this type is necessary. Some 240,000 refugees from Darfur are eking out a precarious existence in eastern Chad, where they live in makeshift camps. Clearly, these people merit protection - as do the 180,000 uprooted by civil unrest within Chad itself
But the problem is that well over half of the operation's troops hail from France, Chad's former colonial overlord
Automatically, this calls into question the very thing that should be the main asset of such a force: its impartiality
Through an agreement with Chad dating from 1976, France already has a sizeable military presence in the capital, N'Djamena, and the eastern town of Abeche. This has helped it shore up the power of the president, Idriss Déby. When Déby succeeded in repelling an attack by the rebel United Front for Democracy and Change in 2006, he did so thanks to logistical and intelligence support from France
Admittedly, the relationship between N'Djamena and Paris has been strained in recent months because of the Zoe's Ark affair, in which French charity workers were accused of trying to abduct 100 African children
Yet this does not alter how France has a dishonourable reputation for courting the Chadian political elite, whenever it has been deemed politically and economically expedient to do so.It is deeply ironic that Nicolas Sarkozy has offered to help finance the trial of former Chadian president Hassene Habre, who led a regime in the 1980s that is accused of systematic torture and about 40,000 political murders. When Habre was actually in power, he received plenty of support from France and the US, both of which regarded him the man dubbed "Africa's Pinochet" as a bulwark against Libya's Muammar Gadafy
Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac, meanwhile, is said to have offered "blind support" for Déby, although there was friction when America's Exxon beat off France's Elf to secure oil drilling rights in the Doba Basin
Déby, who ousted Habre in a 1990 coup, has gone to considerable lengths to cling to power; these include changing the constitution to lift a two-term limit on his presidency. Both troops loyal to him and the rebels they have been fighting in northern and Eastern Chad are known to have recruited child soldiers
With all this historical baggage, it is highly undesirable that the new EU mission is so dominated by France
That is not say the French government is entirely to blame for this turn of events, given that the contribution of other large EU states has been stingy
Not one German or British soldier is to set foot in Chad as a result of this mission. While I know that the British army has been busy for the past few years pursuing American foreign policy goals in Iraq and Afghanistan, surely the UK could have been a little more visible here
In 2005, the report (pdf) of Tony Blair's Commission for Africa contained a well-argued chapter on why security will be essential to the continent if it will emerge from poverty. Gordon Brown was a member of that commission; its website still features a photo of him flanked by Bob Geldof. Perhaps it's time for the prime minister to reacquaint himself with its recommendations
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Re: Chad's history of abuse (Re: Mohamed Omer)
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If Chad coup succeeds, Darfur crisis could deepen
Time to flee: The French Army helped evacuate foreigners Sunday as fighting gripped N'Djamena, Chad
Rebels stormed Chad's capital, delaying arrival of EU troops to help refugees
By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Johannesburg, South Africa
With rebels in the heart of Chad's capital, N'Djamena, surrounding the presidential palace, the complex Darfur conflict is set to take a dramatic and unexpected turn
If President Idriss Déby's government falls by military coup, humanitarian aid operations feeding nearly 400,000 Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadians will be thrown into disarray, and half a dozen Darfur rebel movements taking refuge in Chad may be forced to move their bases back into the troubled Sudanese region
Coming just days before the expected arrival of a European Union (EU) humanitarian protection force in eastern Chad, called EUFOR, the coup attempt is almost certain to delay that deployment until it is clear which government is in charge – the rebels or Déby – and whether EUFOR's presence will still be welcome
"If the coup succeeds, it will have a tremendous impact on Darfur, because the rally of Darfur rebel movements apparently received logistical support from Déby," says Paul Simon Handy, head of African security analysis at the Institute of Security Studies in South Africa. With Déby out of the picture, Sudan's government will be able to turn its attention to negotiating with the Darfur rebels on its own terms, he adds. "The misfortunes of Déby are the fortunes of Khartoum."
Supporting one another's rebels
A coup in Chad would mark the culmination of years in which both Sudan and Chad have used each other's largely uncontrolled border areas, common tribal populations, and dissident rebel groups against each other. Déby's links to Darfur rebel groups have allowed these groups to use Chad as a base for launching attacks into Darfur, while Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has responded in kind, giving Chadian rebels haven to launch attacks on Déby's regime
Political analysts say that the fall of President Déby would have serious consequences, since Déby's regime provided substantial pressure on Khartoum to abandon its military policies in Darfur and to negotiate with rebel groups
"The implications of a change in government would be dire," says John Prendergast, a longtime Sudan watcher and co-chair of the Enough Project, a Darfur pressure group in the US. "The Khartoum regime would assume a dominant position in the region. The new government in Chad would join the Khartoum regime in a witch hunt for Darfurian rebels in Chad, thus removing any semblance of stalemate and inspiring Khartoum to ignore peace talks and pursue a military solution."
Alex de Waal, a Sudan expert at Harvard University, says the big losers, if the coup succeeds, will be two of Darfur's most powerful rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudanese Liberation Army (Unity Faction)
"It looks like Khartoum has probably won its battle, and JEM and SLA-Unity will be cut off from their supplies," says Mr. de Waal, responding by e-mail to questions from the Monitor. "They will be forced to either submit or fight on, but with reduced strength."
Caught in the middle are nearly 400,000 refugees from both Chad and Darfur, and the humanitarian aid groups struggling to provide the basic amenities of food, shelter, water, and protection
"Obviously it is very worrying, but as far as food is concerned, for February and March, we have food in stock," says Stephanie Savariaud, spokeswoman for the UN's World Food Programme office in Dakar, Senegal, which covers Chad. But a number of aid workers say their greatest fear now is the possibility of #####ng, both of vehicles and humanitarian supplies
The rebel offensive on N'Djamena comes just weeks after a heavy aerial bombing campaign by Chad's Air Force on rebel positions near the Darfur town of El Geneina on Dec. 30. Chad at the time claimed that its ground and air forces had not crossed the Sudanese border, but humanitarian workers on the ground reported heavy bombing around El Geneina. Khartoum called the attacks "unprecedented."
Chadian rebels attempted a coup against Déby in the summer of 2006, complaining of government corruption and inability to provide services to the citizens of eastern Chad, Déby's own region. French troops intervened in that conflict, halting the rebel column outside of N'Djamena with warning shots by Mirage jet fighters. This time, the French response has been more muted, reporters in N'Djamena say, with only a few French snipers taking position in the city center, notably at the Meridien Hotel, just blocks from the presidential palace
Even before rebels reached N'Djamena late Friday night, the signs of government collapse were already apparent in eastern Chad. Last week, two men in government uniforms jumped a wall at a UN office and attempted to steal two vehicles. Over the weekend, the UN began to evacuate all international staff from eastern Chad, and as the capital itself came under attack, from N'Djamena as well
Aid workers in Sudan say that a change of government in Chad may have both positive and negative consequences
"It potentially could be good if the Chadian rebels move back into Chad, because their presence has had an impact on the security situation in western Darfur," says one Western aid worker based in Khartoum, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But there is a downside. If there is a pro-Khartoum government in N'Djamena, then the bases of the Darfur rebels in eastern Chad will be more difficult to sustain, and their return to Darfur could destabilize the area."
No more EU force?
A regime change in Chad would likely complicate, if not cancel, the deployment of a French-led EU force in Chad, designed to protect the "humanitarian corridor" for food aid trucked in to the 12 refugee camps housing some 235,000 Darfur refugees, and the separate camps for 137,000 Chadian displaced people who've fled rebel fighting and ethnic clashes. The EUFOR was supposed to begin deployment this week
Khartoum may see the new regime in Chad as a way to bolster its case against the deployment of an expanded peacekeeping force of 26,000 African Union and UN troops within Darfur itself
"This will complicate the deployment of the AU-UN hybrid force in Darfur (UNAMID), because Khartoum will see a new partner regime in N'Djamena," says Mr. Handy at ISS. "Khartoum is always arguing there is no war in Darfur, [saying] there are some clashes from time to time, but they have the capacity to deal with it. With a friendly government in N'Djamena, Khartoum will have a stronger argument."
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Mohamed Omer
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست