November 12, 2005: Civil war is in the air. Dissident members of the president Deby's tribe want to go to war with Sudan, to stop the violence (by Sudanese raiders) against members of their tribe ( the Zagawa) who live on both sides of the border. There's also the question of money, or rather the lack of it. The new oil revenue is not enough for president Deby to pay off all his enemies, and allies. So Deby is revoking the anti-corruption deal he made with the World Bank, in order to get the $3.7 billion required to build the oil pipeline. The World Bank threatens to cut off loans if Deby violates the oil revenue agreement. But Deby sees more cash as a matter of life or death.
November 4, 2005: Sudan has arrested 20 of the 86 Republican Guard deserters who fled to Sudan recently. The deserters are upset because the Chad government has not done enough to fight Sudan backed tribal raiders who attack Sudanese tribesmen, related to many Chadian tribesmen, just across the border. Apparently Sudan understands who these Chadian deserters are eventually going to end up fighting. The twenty arrested men were turned over to the Red Cross.
November 1, 2005: A new, smaller (1,640 troops) presidential security force was formed. DGSSIE (Principle Security Service for State Institutions) will be responsible for protecting the president. However, the new organization is a third the size of the old Republican Guard, and will be much less able to deal with military attempts to take over the government. Current president Deby himself came to power in 1990 via a military coup.
October 31, 2005: Alarmed at the recent defections from his Republican (presidential) Guard, the Guard has been disbanded, and a new presidential security organization formed to replace it. The 5,000 troops in the Republican Guard were "returned" to regular army service. The deserters say that over 600 men have left the Republican Guard.
