By Dany Padire
Associated PressNovember 26, 2007
Chad's army and a rebel group both claimed to have killed hundreds of fighters on the opposing side in fighting Monday in the country's east, an area in turmoil from domestic unrest as well as spillover conflict from the neighboring Darfur region in Sudan. The violence at Abougouleigne, about 60 miles east of the town of Abeche, left "several hundred (rebels) dead, several injured and several prisoners of war" in military custody, according to a statement from Chad's general staff.
A statement from one of Chad's rebel movements, the Forces for Development and Democracy, claimed its fighters killed more than 200 government soldiers. "Loss of human life on the enemy side, more than 200 dead, including division Gen. Dirmi Haroun and Col. Guende Abdramane," said the statement posted a Chadian opposition Web site.
The Chad did not give any figures of its own casualties, but rebels claimed that only 20 of its fighters were killed. It was not possible to independently confirm either side's claims, but if proved close to accurate, the fighting would be the worst since a separate rebel group tried to take the capital in April 2006. At the time the government said it killed over 300 rebels.
Chad has struggled in the face of several rebellions in the east, with some insurgents saying President Idriss Deby has not given enough support to their kinsmen in Darfur. The fighting came after the rebel group last week expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of the implementation of a peace agreement that it signed with the government along with three other insurgent groups. Violence between the Forces for Development and Democracy and government fighters was first reported over the weekend, but there was no word at the time on casualties.
U.N. officials estimate about 3 million people have been uprooted by conflicts in the region, including the fighting in Darfur and the unrelated rebellions in Chad and Central African Republic. Aid workers say recruiters for Chad's rebel groups and the government have visited refugee camps trying to lure children into their forces. The European Union has offered to send a 3,700-soldier force to Chad and Central Africa Republic to help protect refugees displaced by the four-year conflict in Darfur. The force has been held up, however, by a lack of air transportation and medical and supply units.
A meeting last week at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, failed to get more commitments, raising the possibility that the EU mission might not be able to deploy in December as planned. Chad, a largely arid country that is one of Africa's newest oil producers, has been convulsed by civil wars and invasions since independence from France in 1960.
The most recent conflict is intertwined with the one in Darfur. Chad's president is from the same ethnic group as some of the African rebels who have rebelled against Sudan's Arab-dominated government, and each country accuses the other of supporting rebel groups on the other's soil. Hundreds of army officers and members of Deby's own family defected in 2005 after they accused him of not providing enough support to the rebels in Darfur.
Once a fight between nomadic Arab tribes and settled African farmers, both the Darfur and Chadian conflicts have grown increasingly complicated as rebel groups splintered, formed new alliances and received defectors over the years. Armed bandits have taken advantage of the lawlessness to attack civilians, and local politicians have used ethnic rivalries to fan the violence.
Instability has increased ahead of a planned U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force for Darfur and the announcement of the EU mission for Chad and Central African Republic. The EU force is widely seen as strengthening Deby's regime, which has also benefited from high oil prices that has allowed it to buy more weapons. In 2005, a referendum lifted constitutional term limits and Deby won a third term in elections boycotted by the opposition.
