July 9,
2008: UN and EU peacekeepers are trying
to coordinate their operations in Darfur and Chad because, despite denials from
the governments of those two countries, the ethnic violence in the region has
spread to both countries and is interconnected. The peacekeepers want to make
sure that the bad guys do not use that border as a way to get away from pursuers.
Some peacekeeper commanders want the Darfur-Chad area to be considered a single
theater of operations, and to ignore the border, just as the various
paramilitary groups do.
Meanwhile,
continued bandit activity has interrupted enough food shipments to drive up
local food prices. Free foreign food aid isn't getting through either. The
bandits that steal the food either take their loot to distant areas for sale,
or the local merchants (who buy from the bandits) they sell it to store much of
it away in order to jack up prices. Local food prices are over 50 percent
higher than a year ago. The UN is trying to train, and equip, local police to
better protect the roads, and food convoys. But this is a long term project. It
will take more foreign, especially European (with helicopters) peacekeepers to
make a dent in the bandit population (many of the rebel groups and
pro-government paramilitaries moonlight as bandits)
July 3,
2008: The Red Cross has withdrawn
several of its officials from Chad because of an increased threat to the security
of foreign aid workers.
July 2,
2008: Some 300 kilometers southeast of
the capital, a local holy man, or "marabout," organized a group of armed (mostly with
primitive weapons) followers to launch a holy war ("Jihad") against local
Christians. The 28 year old marabout refused to receive political and religious
emissaries from the government. After 700 of the marabouts followers attacked
the town of Kouno, burning down nearly 200 buildings (including four churches
and a police station), the troops moved in, killing over 70 of the marabouts
followers and dispersing the others. The marabout and seven of his lieutenants
were arrested and taken back to the capital. The government considered the marabout
a fairly common phenomenon, as such Islamic radical leaders are popular in this
part of the world.
June 27,
2008: EU peacekeepers got a taste of the
local madness when pro-government troops in the border town of Abeche, leaving
at least one man dead and several wounded. It was apparently friendly fire,
started when some troops did the customary celebration (of something or other)
by firing into the air. That was misinterpreted as an attack, by another group
of pro-government gunmen nearby, and the battle began.