Chad – It’s not just Sudan that’s to blame
By Emily Wax
April 17, 2006 — (N’DJAMENA) — Standing under a scorching sun, women wrapped in their country’s flag unfurled banners that read, “Sudan, Stay Out of Chad.” Others in the crowd waved signs that read, “Sudanese: Go Away Now.”
Thousands of Chadians filled the capital’s central square Saturday to celebrate President Idriss Deby and his government’s defeat of rebels who had tried to topple his 16-year administration. The rebels, based in the Darfur region of western Sudan, had driven hundreds of miles across the desert to N’Djamena, but their attempt to overthrow the Chadian government was quickly put down.
Even as the people in the crowds danced and sang patriotic songs at the rally, some said they did not believe that Sudan was entirely to blame for the political unrest in their country. Blaming Sudan, they said, has helped deflect attention from Chad’s serious domestic problems.
“No one is fooling us, we know it’s not all about Darfur,” said Sou Hbe Hekole, 42, a teacher who said he had not been paid in six months and was offered a few dollars by Deby’s handlers to attend the rally. “We have many of our own problems in Chad. It’s not just Sudan that’s to blame.”
Chad, an oil-rich country in north-central Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world. It does not have a public education system, and more than half the population is illiterate. There is no running water or electricity outside the capital, and life expectancy has plummeted to about 46 years. Since the country gained independence from France in 1960, Chadians have lived through a 30-year civil war, which ended in 1990, four coups and several attempted coups.
Deby, a former rebel who came to power in a coup in 1990, pushed through a change in the constitution to allow him to run for a third term in elections next month.
“Darfur is being put forward to hide very serious, troubling local problems,” said Massalbaye Tenebaye, president of Chad’s branch of the InterAfrican Union for Human Rights. “We’ve never had a nonviolent election. We have a president who doesn’t want to leave office. Meanwhile, we are one of the poorest countries, yet we have oil. Our leaders enjoy luxury cars. But we have no roads. Our financial situation is a catastrophe.”
Many Chadians had hoped that their lives would be improved by a major oil pipeline project that has earned the country millions of dollars in recent years. But the wealth has not reached average citizens. Many Chadians say they are furious with Deby’s hugely unpopular decision to snub Chad’s agreement with the World Bank to spend the oil revenue on projects to alleviate poverty. Human rights groups and diplomats say Deby has spent the money on military equipment instead of hospitals, roads and schools.
“We want the U.S. to help us and say, ‘Let’s have some dialogue about what’s really going on in Chad,’ ” said Ahmat Soubiane, who was Chad’s ambassador to the United States until he fell out with the government three years ago and now lives in Maryland. “Yes, Darfur has played a role. But there’s another huge problem, the lack of democracy and horrifying levels of poverty. Now Deby is in fight mode. He knows his time is ending so he’s lashing out and getting desperate to get the world on his side.”
A hodgepodge of rebel groups, including a faction backed by Sudan, have united in one main alliance, the United Front for Change, diplomats say. Diplomats and Chadian journalists said there was no question that some of the rebels involved in the attack last week were indeed Sudanese, as Deby has said. Witnesses reported seeing young rebels lost in a capital they had obviously never seen before.
Deby is also opposed by a group of his relatives, who were angered by his spending choices and by his public call for his son to inherit the president’s office when he eventually retires.
Hours after the coup attempt Friday, Deby threatened to expel an estimated 200,000 Sudanese refugees who had fled violence in Darfur if the rebel attacks did not stop and the African Union and the United Nations continued what he described as ignoring Sudan’s role in the situation.
Deby also threatened to cut off the flow of oil unless Chad was given access to millions of dollars frozen in January by the World Bank in the dispute over how oil revenue should be spent. Chad’s oil minister told the Reuters news agency that oil exports would end by Tuesday unless the Exxon Mobil-led consortium operating in the country paid at least $100 million to circumvent the freeze. Exxon Mobil said it was speaking with the government.
“It was certainly a bold move to say such things,” said Raissa Kassire, a prominent Chadian journalist. “It’s become a real war of words and images now. Deby has to blame Sudan and stay strong to win.”
At the brief rally Saturday afternoon, Deby jumped on top of a white Hummer and pumped his fist in the air in victory along with the crowd. “Do you want me to go?” he asked, as a woman with a bullhorn repeated his words.
“No!” the crowd shouted back.
“Do you want more security and me to fight for you?” he asked.
“Yes!” the crowd cheered.
Hours earlier, at Deby’s campaign headquarters, Mahamat Hissene, vice president of the parliament and secretary general of the campaign, said the president knew how to fight.
“By 11 a.m., we were done fighting,” said Hissene, shrugging. “By 4 p.m., we were able to continue with the campaign.”
Tending children in a clinic across from the rally, Etienne Demanou, a doctor, said even though Chad had earned millions from oil exports, his musty clinic did not even have an X-ray machine.
“It’s very frustrating,” said Demanou, perspiring heavily as he fanned hot patients. “I don’t support the rebels, actually. I’m not a political person. And I certainly don’t want war. But I just want someone to help us get a better life.”
(The Washington Post)