Chad seeks to reform divided army

By Betel Miarom

N’DJAMENA, April 15 (Reuters) – Chad’s army must be rebuilt to eradicate divisions, enforce discipline and make it into a guardian of democracy in Africa’s newest oil producer, Chadian officials said on Friday.

They were speaking at the start of a five-day meeting of army chiefs of staff to discuss an overhaul of the military in a country that has been rocked by a series of coups and uprisings since independence from France in 1960.

“Our country … has seen its national army and its youth used by political leaders to maintain dictatorial regimes and powers,” Chadian President Idriss Deby, a former army officer who seized power in a 1990 putsch, told the meeting.

“The Chadian army must became a real bulwark of democracy and we have to face the incredible challenge of rebuilding a national army, free of the demons of division and hate, a republican army reconciled with itself,” he said.

Deby has had a tense relationship with the armed forces in the arid former French colony. Last May, he said soldiers who attempted a mutiny had planned to assassinate him because they were angry at a crackdown on corruption in the military.

The war in Darfur in neighbouring Sudan has added to the strains. Analysts say mounting dissent among members of Deby’s Zaghawa tribe, whose people are also found in Sudan and among the Darfur rebels, might have played a part in the mutiny.

The president has come under pressure to support the rebels, some of whom helped him seize power. International observers also say Zaghawas within Deby’s security forces have supplied Darfur rebels via Chad’s army.

Defence Minister Emmanuel Nadingar told the army meeting in N’Djamena that the army suffered from serious malfunctions with more non-commissioned officers than troops.

“There is a lack of respect for hierarchy and the elementary rights of soldiers, a lack of discipline, interference from political authorities,” he said, adding that armed forces also lacked barracks, rolling stock and equipment.

Chad’s army came into being in 1962. An army officer said it now numbered around 25,000 soldiers. The meeting was due to last until April 20.