Chad: Blood Is Thicker Than International Law

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May 27, 2009: Sudan accused Chad of supporting JEM Darfur rebels in two attacks on Sudanese army bases near the Chad border. Both of these attacks apparently failed. Thus in less than three weeks, Sudanese supported Chad rebels failed in their attacks into Chad, while Chad supported Sudanese rebels failed in their attacks into Sudan. Both Chad and Sudan have expressed interest in negotiating another peace deal (that means nothing), while avoiding actually doing something about the problems on their border (supporting each other's rebels, which means something.) Sudan, however has a point in accusing Chad of being the source of the border problems. Chad president Deby belongs to a tribe that has clans on both sides of the border. Deby feels obliged to support members of his tribe who live in Sudan, have suffered from attacks by Sudanese government backed militias, and are in rebellion against Sudan. Deby has so many enemies inside Chad, that he cannot afford to stop supporting his own tribal kin across the border in Sudan.

May 24, 2009: Sudan says it defeated a group of JEM Darfur rebels, and blamed Chad for supporting JEM (which Chad denies).

May 19, 2009: Chadian troops crossed the border and entered the Sudan town of Kornoi. The Chad forces are seeking to disrupt another invasion of Chad by Chad rebels based in Sudan (which denies such bases exist).

May 17, 2009: The government admitted its aircraft had made three raids into Sudan, where seven groups of fleeing Chad rebels were hit. On the ground, the army caught up and attacked hundreds of rebels on the Chad side of the border, capturing a hundred of them. In several days of fighting, 225 rebels and 22 soldiers were killed.

Just across the border in the neighboring Central African Republic (CAR), Chad cattle thieves were repulsed by a group of APRD rebels, leaving six bandits and one rebel dead. The CAR army has been unable to deal with the bandits because of lack of numbers, fuel and incentive.

 

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