Chad's president and the leader of a rebel faction that tried to oust him earlier this year signed a peace accord in Libya late on Sunday (24 December 2006), but other Chadian insurgents dismissed the deal and vowed to fight on. Several rebel groups bent on overthrowing President Idriss Deby have been fighting a low-intensity war in the desert, mountains and scrub of eastern Chad, occasionally striking further west.

Up to 40 people have been killed in clashes between Chad's government security forces and men who attacked two villages in the east of the country, a government official said. Moussa Doumgor Hourmadji, the communications minister, said the attacks had been carried out by the Janjawid - Arab fighters who operate from Sudan's Darfur region.

Journalists in Chad have begun a strike to protest state censorship under a six-month state of emergency imposed by the government of Idriss Deby, the president. Six private newspapers will not publish over the next two weeks, while several private radio stations will observe a three-day period of "silence".

Rebels in Chad have attacked government positions at Guereda, in the far east of the country close to the border with Sudan. Fighting began early in the afternoon when a rebel coalition including the Rally of Democratic Forces [RAFD] and three other groups attacked soldiers in the area, a military source said on Friday (1 December 2006).

Several hundred people were killed and at least 10,000 displaced in recent militia attacks on approximately 60 Chadian villages, primarily in and around Kerfi, Koloy and Bandikao, in October and November. Many of the attacks were carried out by Chadian Arab militia against non-Arab communities.

Rebels fighting Chadian government troops say they have entered the city of Abeche, as fighting continues. A government official also confirmed that the rebels had entered Abeche, 700km east of the capital N'Djamena.

Over the past 10 days, UNHCR has moved more than 670 of these refugees away from the border to the Kounoungou camp, located about 65 kilometres inland and currently home to some 13,000 refugees from Darfur. But while they are probably safer in Kounoungou, one of a dozen camps for Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad, the security situation is volatile and could impact on what humanitarian agencies can do in the east, where UNHCR is helping some 215,000 refugees and some 90,000 displaced Chadians.

Reporters Without Borders has voiced dismay over the decision by the Chadian National Assembly to extend a 10-day-old state of emergency for six months, thereby maintaining prior censorship of the print media and permanent monitoring of independent radio stations.

On the 17th of November 2006, Al Jazeera published an article that reported, among other things, that the “…prime minister of Chad has announced plans to send troops to its southern neighbour Central African Republic to fight rebels allegedly backed by Sudan.”

The article further stated that “Pascal Yoadimnadji, the prime minister… also called for the ‘general mobilisation’ of Chad's people against what he called ‘a generalised war imposed by the Sudanese government.'"

Similar reports and those about relief workers being killed in Chad, abound on the internet. What Pambazuka News has not managed to cover, however, is to provide analyses of the origin of the conflict and who stands to benefit if the status quo remains in Chad. We are seeking articles that interrogate how the situation in Chad impacts on the Darfur crisis. Indeed, we need to assess how the situation impacts on the entire region.

Pambazuka News believes that such an analysis would be useful for both lay-readers and those who follow closely the political developments on the continent. It is for this reason that we are sending out this communiqué, asking any political scientists who would be willing to write an article on the current situation in Chad and its impact on the Darfur crisis, to please contact us. We welcome articles written in either French or English.
If you are interested, please contact [email protected]

The African Union, United Nations and key governments must immediately bolster international forces in Darfur and increase pressure on Sudan to halt the spiral of militia attacks on civilians in Darfur and Chad, Human Rights Watch said today (15 November 2006). On November 16 and 18, members of the UN Security Council, key AU member states and UN officials will meet in Addis Ababa to discuss the deteriorating regional situation, and proposals to bolster the AU mission in Darfur.

The prime minister of Chad has announced plans to send troops to its southern neighbour Central African Republic to fight rebels allegedly backed by Sudan. Pascal Yoadimnadji, the prime minister, on Friday (17 November 2006)also called for the "general mobilisation" of Chad's people against what he called "a generalised war imposed by the Sudanese government".

Reporters Without Borders has condemned the imposition of prior censorship on the print media and a ban on sensitive issues on private radio stations under a state of emergency in the capital, N'Djamena, and six of the country's regions, which the government decreed on 14 November 2006 in response to the serious intercommunal violence of the past few weeks.

Chadian human rights groups say what began as cattle raiding has become "a veritable armed conflict" in southeastern Chad as inter-communal clashes escalate, imperiling efforts by aid agencies to help the wounded and displaced. Meanwhile, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday (14 November 2006) confirmed that the recent violence, which started on 4 November, had left more than 220 people dead and appeared to mirror that of the unrest in the neighbouring Darfur region of Sudan.

Chad's government has claimed that ethnic violence in Sudan's Darfur region is spilling across the border, sparking an upsurge of deadly Arab-African fighting among Chadians. Government spokesman Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said in a statement late Tuesday that the latest fighting broke out Saturday in the eastern region of Sila and left "numerous victims'' on both sides.

Weapons are being funnelled from Chad into Darfur to support rebels who have refused to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement, says a status report on the crisis Sudan. The newly released report says credible information suggests that the government of Sudan is arming Janjaweed militias and Chadian rebels who want to overthrow President Idris Deby.

An upswing in cross-border attacks on Chadian civilians since early October has coincided with new bouts of fighting between the Chadian army and rebels. Aid agency and government officials said Goz Beida, 160 km west of the Sudan border, and 200 km south of the regional aid-hub Abeche was briefly occupied by armed rebels on Sunday (22 October 2006) afternoon.

Rising violence in eastern Chad and Darfur highlights the immediate need for the United Nations Security Council to strengthen civilian protection by the UN mission in Sudan following Khartoum's expulsion of the UN secretary-general's special representative in Sudan, Jan Pronk, Human Rights Watch said today.

For the first time, heavy fighting between Sudanese rebel groups and the government of Sudan has spilled across the border from the embattled Darfur region into eastern Chad, aid workers said on Monday. Previously, such clashes had involved the Chadian army in pursuit of rebels seeking to oust Chadian President Idriss Deby.

Chad's oil industry, with its output of 160,000 barrels a day, is tiny compared with Venezuela's and Russia's. But Chad - the world's fifth poorest country according to UN statistics - wants to exert more control over its natural resources. The president, Idriss Déby, recently announced he was kicking the US oil company Chevron and Malaysian player Petronas - who together own 60% of the consortium running Chad's $4bn pipeline - out of the country for non-payment of taxes, a charge both companies deny.

Government military planes, vehicles and troops were flooding in and out of the military hub Abeche in eastern Chad on Wednesday (September 14) following fighting with rebels in the region earlier this week.