CIAO DATE: 05/2009
April 2009
The conflict in eastern Chad is a powder keg that can further destabilise the country if the government and the international community fail to tackle it. Chad: Powder Keg in the East, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, argues that the conflict in the country’s east is being exacerbated by national and regional political manipulation. President Idriss Déby has used a divide-and-conquer strategy pitting ethnic groups against one another in order to counter the rebel groups. “The population has already suffered enormously, from the domestic disputes, the Darfur crisis and the proxy war between Chad and Sudan”, says Daniela Kroslak, Crisis Group’s Deputy Africa Program Director. “The situation is worsened by large-scale internal displacement and a massive influx of Sudanese refugees that have upset eastern Chad’s demographic balance and intensified the struggle for resources”. For more than five years, the Déby regime has instrumentalised the troubles in the east for its own self-perpetuation. Déby has been able both to divide his political opponents at the local level and to limit the political space for his adversaries at the national level. Sudan has made the instability worse by supporting virtually all the rebel groups in the east. The international community has had a pair of peacekeeping missions on the scene since February 2008 to alleviate spillover effects of the Sudanese conflict into eastern Chad: a European Union force (EUFOR) and the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT). However, neither significantly improved the security situation. While the Chadian rebels prepare another attack, Chad and Sudan must urgently resume implementation of the Dakar agreement they signed in 2008. President Déby should also open a new round of negotiations with the rebel groups and seek a sustainable ceasefire. Most importantly, the government should help MINURCAT organise a peace conference on the eastern conflict that includes representatives of the central government, rebel groups, customary leaders and opposition political parties. The international community, in particular France and the UN Security Council, needs to support the initiative both diplomatically and financially. “Eastern Chad will remain a powder keg susceptible to rebellion and open to destabilisation from abroad as long as the root problems are left latent and until serious attention is given to the local sources of tension”, warns James Yellin, Crisis Group’s Central Africa Project Director.
Resource link: TCHAD : LA POUDRIERE DE L'EST [PDF] - 1.2M