December
23, 2006: The UN is trying to move most of the 370,000 refugees in eastern Chad
to a safer location. In the past month, some 70 raids by Chad rebels and
Sudanese militias have killed at least 300 people. The attacks have hit refugee
camps as well as Chad towns and villages. The raiders are looking for loot, as
well as chasing the refugees away. The refugees are mostly from Sudan, but
include 90,000 Chadians and 48,000 from the Central African Republic. The UN is
trying to get some peacekeepers in to deal with the raiders, but so far it's
all talk and no action. The Arab and Islamic nations in the UN oppose any
action that would result in the Sudanese Arab militias being
defeated.
December
20, 2006: So far, about 90,000 refugees in eastern Chad, have fled the
increasing violence caused by Chad rebels and Sudanese Arab militias raiding
across the border. The Sudanese Arabs raiders seem determined to drive the
refugees (mainly black Sudanese farmers, whose land the Sudanese Arab herders
coveted) as far away as possible.
December
18, 2006: The rebels have a new strategy, based on raiding the towns of eastern
Chad, and wearing down the army, which rushes to the scene of each raid, to
regain control of the town. Operations like that today left 15 civilians,
8 soldiers, five Sudanese refugees and nine rebels dead. However, it's
difficult to tell the Chad rebels from the Sudanese militia. Both groups tend
to wear combat uniforms provided by the Sudanese army.
December
17, 2006: The president met one of the four rebel movements at war with the
government. Mahamat Nour Abdelkerim, the leader of the FUC, is considering
rejoining the government, mainly because of increasingly bad relationships with
the other rebels movements (UDD, RAFD and SCUD). The other rebels blame Mahamat
Nour Abdelkerim for the failure of the bold attack on the capital last
April.
