No EUforia as Chad plans go awry – CSIS Africa Forum
February 4th, 2008
http://forums.csis.org/africa/?p=86
At a European Union (EU) foreign ministers meeting on January 28, it was finally confirmed that Ireland’s Lieutenant-General Patrick Nash would lead French, Swedish and Irish soldiers, as well as contingents from ten other contributor nations, to Chad and the northeastern Central African Republic (CAR), in an almost-4000-strong humanitarian-military mission to be known as EUFOR Chad/CAR.
Conflicting reports at time of writing suggested that Chadian rebels had taken much of Chad’s capital N’djamena in the first days of February, but with government troops continuing to fight to dislodge the Sudan-backed insurgents. The rebels may have temporarily withdrawn from N’djamena, but could well return once reinforcements arrive. (more…)
Chad, Sudan and a risky western game – ISN
February 3rd, 2008
refugee camp in Chad (ISN)
China and the West at odds in Africa over oil and refugees, as EU troops stay at home for now.
By Simon Roughneen
With Chad’s capital N’djamena possibly set to fall to a coalition of Sudan-backed rebels, the implications for the United Nations/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) remain unclear.
The likelihood is that the establishment of a client government in Chad will give Sudan’s National Congress Party (NCP), the dominant component of the Khartoum government, more scope to impose its will on Darfur, where UN peacekeepers are struggling to make any impact with their apparently stillborn mission.
Khartoum’s policy on Darfur was made very clear by its reaction to the insurgency that broke out in the region during 2003. By 2004, the Sudanese army and its Janjaweed militia vanguard were in the midst of a scorched-earth campaign that has left at least 200,000 dead and around 2.5 million languishing in camps, with another 240,000 refugees in Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR). (more…)
Chad rebel movement delays EU deployment – RTÉ Morning Ireland
February 1st, 2008
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0201/morningireland.html
French role threatens Chad force neutrality – The Irish Examiner
February 1st, 2008
Last Monday foreign ministers proclaimed the imminent deployment of EUFOR – the ‘neutral and impartial’ military humanitarian mission to Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR). In the days since, developments in Chad and elsewhere have underlined just dangerous and complex a region the almost-4000 Europeans are to work in.
The first batch of what will be 400 Irish troops saw their deployment postponed last night, as fighting continued close to N’djamena, after Chadian rebels drove all the way from their Darfur base to within 60km of the capital, in the few days since the EU announcement. (more…)
Chad’s complexities a barrier for Eufor – The Irish Times
February 1st, 2008
Refugee camp in Chad (Irish Times website)
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/0202/index.html
Events in Chad have postponed the deployment of the Irish-led EU force. Simon Roughneen explains why, if the troops ever are deployed, they will enter a hornet’s nest of competing and overlapping national, regional and international interests.
The UN-mandated European Union force due in Chad and the Central African Republic aims to protect refugees from Sudan’s scorched-earth Darfur region and displaced people within eastern Chad itself.
These are noble and necessary goals, but are easier said than done.
Best intentions aside, the EU force, known by its acronym Eufor, will be seen as a protagonist in a nasty and convoluted power-play, with Chad’s civil conflict dovetailing with that in Darfur, and an escalating Sudan-Chad war, where the two sides are backed by China and France respectively. (more…)
EU enters Chad powderkeg – The Irish Catholic
January 31st, 2008
With 400 Irish troops set to deploy to Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) next month, confusion and looming violence threaten to undermine the almost-4000-strong EU force (EUFOR), writes Simon Roughneen
“I will be there in uniform, without arms, with a UN logo. The EU will be there with arms, with the EU logo. The French [troops stationed in Chad for more than two decades and who support Chadian President Idriss Déby] will be there, with the same uniforms as the French working for the EU, but with a French logo, and with a different interest, etc., etc.”
This from Lieutenant-Colonel Jan Vall, deputy chief of the military liaison officers of the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT), which was set up under the same UN Security Council resolution that mandated the EU to send what is a priori a refugee protection force to these remote and desolate central African countries.
A quick trawl of NGO websites shows a fresh recruitment drive for PR and information personnel needed in Chad, as aid agencies fret about how distinguish themselves from EUFOR and the new UN mission, not to mention the 1200 French soldiers there on a bilateral basis, supporting Chad’s unelected and unpopular President in a civil war that is fast turning into a full-blown international conflict between Chad and Sudan. (more…)
Failing to Set Up, Set Up to Fail – IslamOnline
January 23rd, 2008
African Union troops change their berets in a ceremony marking the transfer of peacekeeping authority from the AU to UNAMID in El Fasher, Sudan, Dec. 31, 2007 (Reuters Photo)
Speaking at the former leftist stronghold Wad Medani back November 17 last year, Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir told listeners, “The elements from Sweden and Norway are in fact intelligence from Mossad and the CIA.”
These Scandinavians are military engineers which were set to participate in the United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur ( UNAMID) deployed to Darfur since Jan. 1, 2008. The Sudanese President has similarly resisted deployment of Thai and Nepalese battalions, demanding that the UNAMID force be all-African, save for Chinese and Pakistani contingents. As things stand, just 9000 of the projected 26000 troops are on the ground, something UN and Sudanese officials will haggle over at the AU summit set for January 31 in Addis Ababa.
While Al-Bashir’s misunderstanding – willful or otherwise - of the profound disdain for the United States and Israel held by secular, “post-modern” European elites – of which foreign policy wonks in Sweden and Norway might well be a vanguard – is perhaps a topic for another day. What matters in the immediate term is that after years of lily-livered western diplomacy UNAMID is now set up to fail in Darfur. Recall that UNAMID is a watered-down version of the U.N. peacekeeping operation originally proposed by the Aug. 31, 2006 UN Security Council Resolution 1706. Proponents of that force did little to resist Khartoum and Beijing collaboration to scupper its deployment.
Stalling UN Forces (more…)
Corruption trumps tribalism – New York Times (IHT)
January 10th, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/opinion/10iht-edrough.1.9130273.html
Kenyans were cynical about their political establishment long before the latest election violence. One wisecrack doing the rounds since last year says “there is more chance of a Luo becoming president of the United States than president of this country” – referring to Barack Obama, whose father hails from the same ethnic Luo country in western Kenya as Raila Odinga, challenger to the incumbent, Mwai Kibaki of the Kikuyu tribe.
Nearly 500 people have been killed in the violence following the announcement by Kenya’s electoral commission that Kibaki somehow pulled back from a million-vote deficit to win re-election. This has prompted dire warnings that the country risks a political meltdown along ethnic-tribal lines.
Sea of tin: view of one of Nairobi's slums (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
But there are problems with this analysis. First, while Kenya’s tribal divisions are a proximate cause, they are not the underlying source of the bloodshed. Second, Kenya’s stability has always been tenuous; the current battle lines were drawn at least since Kibaki was soundly defeated by Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement in a 2005 referendum on the Constitution. (more…)
Kenyan polls spark tribal battles – ISN
January 7th, 2008
Ethnic fires have been stoked by long-running graft and political cronyism, and Kenya’s much-touted stability was always tenuous at best.
By Simon Roughneen
Despite violence in Darfur, Somalia, eastern Congo and the Niger Delta, welcome and belated Africa-optimism was peddled among diplomatic and investment circles throughout 2007.
Continent-wide economic growth and some tentative conflict resolution successes – as well as growing engagement by China, India and Dubai – prompted western analysts to talk up Africa’s prospects, albeit within a monolithic paradigm.
However, just last week, Kenya’s flawed election results and ensuing violence have undermined such optimism given the country’s status as a stable and relatively prosperous one in a troubled region. (more…)
Cynicism and corruption at the root of Kenya’s problems – Sunday Business Post
January 6th, 2008
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2008/01/06/story29380.asp
It is too simplistic to say that Kenya’s troubles stem from tribal differences, writes Simon Roughneen.
Kenyans were coyly cynical about their political establishment long before the violence following the presidential election last weekend.
Luo and Kikuyu square-off after disputed elections (AFP)election last weekend.
One wisecrack doing the rounds since last year goes ‘‘there is more chance of a Luo becoming president of America than president of this country’’ – a reference to Barack Obama, whose father comes from the same ethnic Luo region in western Kenya as Raila Odinga, the challenger to the incumbent president, Mwai Kibaki, who is from the Kikuyu tribe.
While Kenya is often portrayed as a business-oriented tourist haven in a troubled region, more than 350 people have been killed in the past week since Kenya’s electoral commission announced that Kibaki somehow pulled back a million vote deficit to win the election.
Street violence, church massacres and foiled demonstrations followed, suggesting that Kenya risks political meltdown along ethnic-tribal lines.
After a US diplomatic intervention, Kibaki said yesterday that he is ready to form a government of national unity to end the crisis that followed his disputed election. The president also said he may accept opposition demands for a fresh election, but only by court order. However, o n the streets the fighting continues.
While Kenya’s tribal divisions are a proximate cause, they are not the underlying source of the violence. (more…)
