November17, 2006:
The government has declared a state of emergency, as rebels along the
Sudan border continue to threaten an advance on the capital. The government is
calling for help from the UN, and accusing the government of Sudan of taking
its ethnic cleansing campaign from Darfur into Chad. The Sudanese government
has backed Arab tribes against black African ones, in a battle for scarce water
resources. Chad also has its competing Arab and African tribes, and Sudan is
supporting the Chad Arab tribes with guns and other supplies.
November
16, 2006: The government is sending troops to the neighboring Central African
Republic (CAR), to help fight rebels there. There are already a hundred Chad
troops in CAR, as part of a peacekeeping force. The president of Chad, Idriss
Deby, helped put the current ruler of the CAR into power three years ago, and
fears that Sudan is behind the current CAR rebellion, and is trying to put a
pro-Sudan, andi-Deby ruler into power.
November
15, 2006: The growing violence, and number of refugees, in eastern Chad, has
caused a water shortage. Relief groups are cutting water supplies (four gallons
a day per person) for refugees.