March 6, 2009: In addition to Chad's many current problems, there are some old ones that are still getting some attention. For example, Chad's ruler during the 1980s, Hissène Habré, is being pursued on war crimes charges. But Senegal, where Habre has been living in exile, refuses to assist the International Court of Justice or Belgium in extraditing Habre. African governments are much less enthusiastic about prosecuting Africans for "crimes against humanity" than Europeans are. This is probably because so many African leaders could, by European standards, be accused of "crimes against humanity". Senegal, for example, is being prosecuted for allowing torture.
Nothing is happening on the Sudan border, despite fears that Sudan might launch attacks to protest the recent issuing of an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan on war crimes charges. President Bashir is not happy about the warrant, but is not taking it out on Chad, yet. The EU peacekeepers have said they will fight if the Sudanese, or their irregular allies, cross the border. The current leader of Chad is a much smoother article, and has taken measures to hide evidence of his indictable (in Europe) actions.
February 16, 2009: Another 6,000 refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) have fled into southeastern Chad. There are already 50,000 such refugees there, sustained by foreign aid groups and donated food.
