Africa: Chad and Sudan (and related) Update

[Annie]

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/chad/articles/20060423.aspx

War Declared Against Sudanese Madness

April 23, 2006: While Sudan insists it did not support the Chad rebels, people who have traveled through the border area contradict this. The U.S. also says Sudan is involved (without revealing its sources, which probably include satellite surveillance and agents on the ground.) Sudan apparently believes that, if the faction it backed got control of Chad, the Darfur rebels would have one less place to hide out in. But some of the Darfur rebels belong to tribes that have branches in both Sudan and Chad. That said, Sudan's brutal policy in Darfur doesn't make sense either, but there it is. The Sudanese leadership are ruthless, and don't much care how much mess and misery they create.



April 22, 2006: The African Union has sent a team to investigate the charge that Sudan backed the Chad rebels. All the evidence points to Sudan's guilt. But Sudan treats the African Union with barely disguised scorn, and won't bother much with another accusation from them.



April 21, 2006: Gunrunners are doing a booming business with the government, with additional weapons being flown and trucked in each week. Some of the deliveries are pretty visible, like the six Mi-17 helicopters that recently arrived. These cost about $5 million each. More and more of Chad's oil revenues are going to the arms suppliers, who usually demand cash up front.



April 20, 2006: France is sending another company (150 men) of troops to Chad, where there are already 1200 French soldiers and airmen. The French troops will help the Chad government resist Sudanese backed rebels. Previously, the French troops were told not to interfere, as Chadian rebels do have a legitimate complaint against president Deby, who has bent the rules to run for a third term next month, and is considered corrupt and autocratic.



April 16, 2006: The government demanded $100 million from the oil companies running oil operations in Chad. This is money the government agreed to put aside for economic development. But president Deby needs the money to stay in power (buy weapons, bribe allies, and so on). Deby threatens to halt oil shipments if the oil companies do not produce the money immediately. Chad also withdrew from the peace talks trying to settle the rebellion in Darfur. This is considered an empty threat, as the government needs the revenues it is getting.



April 15, 2006: Some 15,000 refugees fled across the border into Sudan, to escape the fighting with rebels. The fighting itself had died down, with about 400 dead (mostly rebels) on the frontier, and in the capital. Some 200 rebels were captured. The rebels had withdrawn to their bases in Sudan. Their attempt to make a run for the capital and trigger a larger uprising against president Deby, had failed. This sort of thing sometimes works in Chad, but not this time.



April 14, 2006: Soldiers and police killed or captured the several hundred rebels that drove into the capital. The captured FUC rebels admitted they had received support from Sudan, even as the Sudanese government insists it had nothing to do with the incident.



Diplomatic relations with Sudan were cut and a state of war declared. Chad closed its border with Sudan, as did the Central African Republic. This doesn't mean much to the Sudanese militias, that can easily cross the borders elsewhere. There are only a few official border crossings (on the few roads), and not many border patrols.

 

[waltky]

Thought independence was gonna put a stop to the violence...

South Sudan army clashes with rebels, 16 die
10 Feb 2011 * Violence breaks ceasefire with renegade commander * South Sudan minister killed in office a day earlier * Instability follows southern vote for independence

At least 16 people died in clashes between a renegade militia and south Sudan's army, the military said on Thursday, raising fears for stability of the oil-producing south as it prepares to declare independence.

The fighting with forces loyal to George Athor in south Sudan's Jonglei state on Wednesday and Thursday broke a shaky ceasefire with the southern government and followed the killing of a south Sudan minister inside his office, underlining insecurity even in the region's capital Juba. The violence, which ended a period of relative calm in the underdeveloped and divided territory, comes at a particularly sensitive time for the south.

On Monday, final results showed that around 99 percent of southerners voted to separate from the north of Sudan in a referendum held under a 2005 peace deal which ended decades of north-south civil war. That conflict killed an estimated 2 million people and was also marked by violence between rival southern militias. There have been fears that old divisions could re-surface during the build-up to secession, which is due to take place on July 9.

"George Athor's forces attacked an SPLA (the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army) base in Jonglei state. Four SPLA soldiers were killed and 12 of Athor's men," said SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer. "This is a violation of the ceasefire agreement. Not only has he attacked SPLA, he has been planting landmines as well." Aguer said Athor's men launched the attack in the Jonglei community of Door on Wednesday morning.

CHEATING ALLEGATIONS