France moving troops to Chad
C'est toujours le meme chose
Quote:
France moving troops to Chad
PARIS, France (CNN) -- The French Defense Ministry said Friday it is dispatching 140 soldiers from Gabon to Chad's capital of N'Djamena as a precaution to protect French citizens after renewed fighting between government troops and rebels.
The ministry spokesman said concerns were raised over the safety of French citizens by reports the Chad military had been fighting a rebel force hostile to President Idriss Deby north and east of N'Djamena.
A ministry spokesman said because of rebel activity in the former French colony, the decision was made to reinforce the garrison of French troops stationed in the city to "ensure the security of French citizens."
The French move came as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he is "deeply concerned at the resumption of fighting in Chad."
Ban's spokesman said he "deplores any action that could worsen the already grave humanitarian situation especially in eastern Chad where the international community is actively engaged in activities to provide relief and secure the voluntary, safe and sustainable return of refugees and displaced persons in eastern Chad and north-eastern Central African Republic
Chad army chief of staff killed, Deby declines evacuataion.
Chad authorities say rebels defeated, but deny ceasefire reports
CAIRO, February 5 (RIA Novosti) - Reports emerged on Tuesday saying Chadian rebels had agreed on a ceasefire to end three days of hostilities, but authorities insisted they had defeated the insurgents with no such deal reached.
Quote:
The rebels are a loose coalition of three opposition groups whose leaders accuse President Idriss Deby of corruption and embezzling millions of dollars in oil revenue.
Media in several Arab countries cited a spokesman for the rebel forces as saying they had given their agreement to an immediate ceasefire due to "the suffering of the Chadian people," and in line with the peace initiatives put forward by the African Union's mediators.
However, French media cited in their latest reports Chad's prime minister, Nourredine Delwa Kassire Coumakoye, as saying that the insurgency had been quashed and that the remaining rebel forces were fleeing the area around the capital.
"Why a ceasefire? They [the rebels] don't exist any more. With whom would we sign a ceasefire? We've got them under control," Coumakoye told international news channel France 24.
throw caution to the wind
France Advises Nationals to Stay
Quote:
The government of France has granted permission to its residents in Chad, who are still in evacuation centres, to remain if they wish, as calm and some degree of normalcy has returned to N'djamena, the capital city.
It however cautioned them not to travel out of the capital and to observe the hours of curfew until absolute normalcy is restored in the country.
According to a statement released by the Embassy of France in Abuja, the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Mr. Bernard Kouchner disclosed that 485 French and 444 foreigners had arrived France from Chad and there are still many French citizens in the gathering points at the Cité Lamy and the Novotel; a recommendation has been made for them to go home.
Armchair views vindicated?
Quote:
'If the civil war remains a new high level - what will the French reaction be? Limited to protection of French and other nationals? Secondly the EU intervention, planned to be based in Eastern Chad on the Darfur border, will disappear, far too dangerous for EU members, let alone logistics. With a knock-on effect on the Darfur intervention (EU, AU & UN). Wily Sudanese win again.
Nice to know my armchair viewpoint two weeks ago had some good points.
davidbfpo
The right force for the mission
As a police officer I would expect to be properly equipped and given clear directions if being sent to a live, violent crime incident. Despatching a police unit to for example a riot without the right equipment is dangerous, if not foolhardy.
I understand that most peacekeepers expect to keep the peace, using a variety of well-documented methods and that bloodshed is minimised. Sending a lightly-armed peacekeeping contingent to Chad would be dangerous for those involved. Peace enforcement is a different mission.
I have little doubt that few national governments would allocate forces to Chad if it was high-risk and bloodshed likely. No-one wants to see a repeat of what happened in Rwanda.
There are a small number of UN contributors who have been prepared to be robust and risk casualties.
If anyone wants to volunteer their nation for the Chad mission step forward.
davidbfpo
Intel support for stability ops - Chad case study
From Kent's Imperative:
Quote:
We continue to be impressed with the uses for commercial overhead imagery which the private sector now increasingly relies upon in an astounding array of situations. While none of these applications are new from the perspective of an intelligence community which has been employing national technical means to similar ends for decades, their independent re-discovery in the outside world, and operationalization in support of crisis situations, remains fascinating from the perspective of intelligence studies scholarship.
The most recent example comes from the conflict in Chad - which provides an excellent and evolving unclassified teaching case to explore the issues involved in small wars and destabilizing countries, particularly for the unique kinds of intelligence support required in noncombatant evacuation operations and other stability and support missions. UNOSAT has recently released a series of products derived from commercial satellite data which attempt to estimate the scale of urban evacuation of the capital of N´Djamena.
For the Chad maps mentions, go here and click on the chad link.
Chadian–Libyan conflict, Toyota War
Hello everyone,
I am a student majoring in military history and I would like to write a capstone paper about the Chadian-Libyan conflict, specifically the "Toyota War". I cannot find any primary sources or books on the matter. Do you have any recommendations or suggestions?
Thanks in advance:)
Chad’s North West: The Next High-risk Area?
I know, I am digging out an old threat on Chad. But with the events in the region, I thought it would be relevant:
Quote:
Chad’s North West: The Next High-risk Area?
For more than five years, public attention relative to Chad has been focused on the armed rebellion in the east and the crisis in the Darfur region of neighbouring Sudan, while totally neglecting the country’s North West. However, there are serious risks that the rise of trans-Sahara drug trafficking and terrorism, emergence of radical Muslim movements in neighbouring countries, development of inter-communal violence, decline of local traditional justice systems and lack of state governance will destabilise that ignored region. The authorities in N’Djamena need to move to change the governance system there and defuse the multiple roots of potential conflict before a crisis explodes.
Historically, the North West has played an ambivalent but pivotal role between the Arab-Islamic culture of North Africa and the sub-Saharan African cultures. Presently, its strategic position makes it increasingly the target of infiltration attempts by armed groups and criminal networks that take advantage of the no-man’s-land areas of the Sahara Desert to expand their activities. Islamic terrorist groups from Northern Nigeria (the Boko Haram sect) and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) operating in the Sahel region are making their diffuse but real influence felt. Up to now, this dangerous neighbourhood has not produced instability, but greater vigilance is definitely needed.
Since the end of the 1990s, the government has not been able to reconcile the communities, despite the improved regional security context following the progressive dismantling of the two main rebel groups operating in the region: the Movement for Democratisation and Development (Mouvement pour la démocratie et le développement, MDD), and the Movement for Democratisation and Justice in Chad (Mouvement pour la démocratie et la justice au Tchad, MDJT). The continuous decline of the local traditional justice systems and environmental degradation contribute to the precarious quality of the region’s stability.
In such a context, inter-communal political manipulation is likely to awaken old resentments and aggravate local grievances. Moreover, N’Djamena neglects the North West, as shown by its reactions to the very predictable food crisis that began in 2009 and the flood that destroyed the city of Faya Largeau in July 2010. Instead of implementing a sustainable development policy, the authorities make empty promises and prolong the old colonial mode of governance, based on tight regional control via traditional leaders and security forces.
Although major trouble is still unlikely in the short-term, there is already a high level of tension between pastoralists and farmers. The North West, which provided many fighters during Chad’s earlier civil wars, thus has the potential to become the country’s new hot spot. To prevent this, the government needs to promptly improve the way it runs the region, focus on the attempts by international criminal and terrorist networks to expand their influence and tackle inter-communal tensions by:
setting up a regional development plan to improve governance in the North West and build social infrastructure and roads. This plan should be based on the demands of the local communities and include financial incentives for civil servants to work there, rational administrative coverage of the territory and appropriate rules for integrating traditional leaders into the new local governance system. N’Djamena must treat development and security as inter-linked issues, given that significant development programs could contribute to calming the situation in the region;
updating and implementing local and national justice systems with respect to the role of traditional leaders and the relationship of natural resource issues to conflicts, especially those between pastoralists and farmers, which require reform of the land tenure system, a disarmament program and dispute resolution mechanisms run by neutral authorities;
creating a regional police unit with adequate legal powers and logistical resources (communication equipment, cars, and helicopters) to monitor and secure the North West border. External partners of Chad like France and the U.S. should offer training and operational mentoring to the unit that will be under the authority of the interior ministry; and
pursuing involvement in pan-Sahel and Sahara initiatives that seek to improve international cooperation and exchange of information on countering terrorism and drug trafficking and promoting joint operations with the neighbouring countries, especially Niger, Nigeria, and Libya.
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/region...risk-area.aspx
In 1987, the French Air Force Staged a Daring Raid on Libyan Defenses
With a patrol plane as bait, fighter jets targeted radar sites
by TOM COOPER & ARNAUD DELALANDE
In 1983 and 1984, France intervened in the war between Chad and Libya. Paris’ Operation Manta established a “red line” along the 15th parallel — a blocking position meant to stop any advance by Libyan troops and Chadian rebels into southern Chad.
Chad was in the throes of a civil war that escalated when Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi backed Chadian rebel leader Goukouni Oueddei. Libyan troops and Chadian rebels occupied northern Chad. France was determined to protect what was left of Chad — its former colony — from Libyan influence.
France moved the red line north to the 16th parallel in January 1984 after Chadian forces shot down a French Jaguar fighter-bomber, killing its pilot. And on Feb. 16, 1986, the French air force launched an air raid targeting a Libyan-built airbase near the Ouadi-Doum oasis in northern Chad. Eleven Jaguars lobbing BAP-100 bombs totally destroyed the runway.
Thus began Operation Sparrowhawk — France’s big push to bring the Chadian civil war to a close. Air power played a central role....
See more here: https://warisboring.com/in-1987-the-...119#.s352hg3zs