Chad’s Deby accuses Sudan-backed Janjaweed of massacre

Sept 29, 2005 (PARIS) — The President of Chad, Idriss Deby, said that he was convinced a massacre in his country on Monday that left 50 dead was carried out by a government-backed militia from neighbouring Sudan.

“We are absolutely sure that it was the Janjaweed,” President Deby told French radio station RFI on Thursday, referring to the militia in Sudan used by the government there in its conflict with separatist rebels in the Darfur region.

Deby said it was “too early” to know if the Sudanese government was directly implicated, adding: “We don’t know the motives (for the attack)”.

He said that the assailants, who attacked Chadian villages on horseback in the east of the country, were armed with new weapons, dressed in military uniform, and were supplied with plenty of ammunition.

“Who gave this to them, was it the Sudanese government or another, we will find out,” Deby added.

The Janjaweed are a notorious armed Muslim militia whose favoured form of attack is by horse or camel. They have been widely condemned by human rights groups for their atrocities against civilians.

During the clashes in the Wadai region on Monday, Chadian forces killed eight of the attackers and captured seven. Army sources told AFP that the bandits had killed at least 36 villagers in Madayun.

Eastern Chad borders on the Darfur region of Sudan, where tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than a million displaced since rebels rose up in February 2003.

There was speculation after the attacks that the massacre might have been carried out by some of the 3,000 armed Chadian “rebels” known to operate around the border between Chad and Sudan.

Both rebel groups denied involvement on Tuesday.

(AFP/ST)