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Chad: Civilians at Risk, Outside Roles at Issue
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AfricaFocus (Washington, DC)
ANALYSIS
14 February 2008
Posted to the web 14 February 2008
Washington, DC
"The Chadian civil war is often described as a "spillover" from Darfur. That is a simplification. Darfur's war actually began as a spillover from Chad more than twenty years ago and the two conflicts have been entangled ever since." - Alex De Waal
In the aftermath of fighting in Chad's capital, launched by Sudanese-backed rebel groups, relief agencies are warning of new humanitarian risks both to Sudanese refugees and to Chadians displaced within the country. Further deployment of a European Union protection force mandated by the United Nations is uncertain, and arrests of opposition leaders by the government of Idriss Deby indicate that the Chadian leader is taking advantage of the crisis to suppress even peaceful opposition.
On February 4, the United Nations Security Council condemned the rebel attacks on Chad's capital, and applauded an effort by the African Union to promote talks between the rebels and Chad's government. But the prospects of a new political settlement seem slim.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains calls for international action from a coalition of international human rights groups and from Human Rights Watch, as well as a background article on the crisis by Alex De Waal of Justice Africa.
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on Chad and additional background links, visit http://www.africafocus.org/country/chad.php
Joint Statement on the Crisis in Chad
February 11, 2008
The following is a joint statement on the crisis in Chad from the ENOUGH Project, the Save Darfur Coalition, and the Genocide Intervention Network:
The outcome of the crisis in Chad remains uncertain, but the peril for civilians in Chad and Darfur is enormous. A low-intensity, festering civil conflict between the Chadian government and a disparate group of rebels exploded into violent confrontation in the capital N'Djamena. Thousands of refugees fled the city, and the threat of renewed violence continues. The Sudanese government, which is responsible for genocide in Darfur, supports the rebels trying to overthrow Chad's government because it wants to block the deployment of European Union peacekeepers to Eastern Chad. Sudan's ruling party not only threatens its own citizens, which it has destroyed in great numbers, it is a menace to the entire region. It will remain a menace until the rest of the world makes the cost of doing so too steep.
Therefore, the Save Darfur Coalition, the ENOUGH Project, and the Genocide Intervention Network make the following policy recommendations:
The U.S., France and UK should work with China and Russia to introduce immediately a UN Security Council resolution authorizing targeted sanctions on senior Sudanese officials responsible for supporting the overthrow of a neighboring sovereign government, for obstructing the deployment of international protection forces in Chad and Darfur, and for continuing to promote violence in Darfur.
The U.S., UK, France, and China, as leading members of the UN Security Council, and in coordination with the UN, the AU, and the broader international community, should work together to ensure that the UNAMID peacekeeping mission in Darfur and the EUFOR and MINURCAT peacekeeping missions in Chad/CAR are immediately and fully deployed.
The U.S., France, UK and China should use this opportunity to form an international "Quartet" to work with the UN and AU to promote an end to the interconnected conflicts in Chad and Sudan.
EU Should Deploy Troops Now to Protect Civilians
Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC)
Press Release
12 February 2008
The European Union should urgently move forward with its planned deployment of troops to protect civilians in eastern Chad, Human Rights Watch said today. Recent fighting between Chadian government forces and insurgent groups has left tens of thousands of civilians at grave risk and has paralyzed the delivery of humanitarian aid.
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EUFOR, a European Union civilian-protection mission mandated by the UN Security Council to protect civilians in Chad, has already deployed 150 soldiers to Chad. Further deployments have been delayed by the recent fighting, however. EUFOR is mandated to provide protection for more than 400,000 Sudanese refugees and Chadian internally displaced persons in eastern Chad.
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