Yearbook 2008
Chad. In early February, the capital, N'Djamena, was
joined by a coalition of rebel forces that have been
marching from their bases in Sudan throughout Chad to
overthrow President Idriss Déby's regime. The rebels quickly
gained control of parts of the capital, but around the
presidential palace, army forces held their ground.
According to
Countryaah reports, thousands of people fled N'Djamena, and France led the
evacuation of French citizens and other Westerners. The
French military force stationed in T. was reinforced but did
not intervene in the fighting.
The EU decided to postpone the planned deployment of a
security force of 3,700 men, including 200 Swedes. The force
would be located in eastern Chad and in the Central African
Republic to protect refugees from Darfur in Sudan. Chad
accused Sudan of being behind the rebels' actions in order
to stop the EU force. In February, fighting took place in
Darfur and thousands more refugees crossed the border to
Chad. Déby called on the EU to quickly dispatch the
protection force, and in mid-February, the first EUFOR
forces were in place in Chad, among them some Swedes.
The rebels soon withdrew from N'Djamena and the Chadian
regime claimed to have regained control of the city. At
least 160 people had been killed in the fighting and many of
the victims were civilians. According to authorities, the
deaths were several hundred.
As a result of the uprising, the Déby regime struck
against the political opposition. Among other things, some
leading opposition politicians were arrested. One of them,
Ngarlejy Yorongar, managed to escape to Cameroon where he
testified that his arrested colleague Ibni Oumar Muhamat
Saleh had been beaten. Opposition politician Lol Mahamat
Choua was also arrested.
The déby regime imposed a curfew in the capital and in
six provinces in the south and east.
In March, for the sixth time in five years, Chad and
Sudan signed a non-strike agreement with the hope of ending
military conflicts across the border.
However, the rebel forces were not included in the
agreement, and they threatened to continue the attempts to
overthrow Déby as long as he did not want to talk about the
division of power in Chad. In April, a possible sign of
bargaining came when Déby appointed his adviser Youssouf
Saleh Abbas as new prime minister. Abbas had previously
switched from the opposition to Déby and he was expected to
be assigned to hold talks with the rebels.
But the unrest continued. In June and July, fierce
fighting took place between rebels and the army in eastern
Chad, and the UN refugee agency UNHCR was forced to leave a
number of refugee camps. The regime accused the EUFOR force
of inaction when the rebels attacked and killed civilians.
Over a hundred attacks against relief workers had occurred
since the beginning of the year. At the same time, the local
harvest was poor for the second year in a row and food
prices rose.
In November, Chad and Sudan decided to re-establish their
diplomatic relations.
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