By Elizabeth Costner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

N’DJAMENA, Chad – Chadian rebels seeking to overthrow President Idriss Deby have made their way to the capital and are fighting government troops around the presidential palace.   The rebels closed in on the capital with their pickup trucks mounted with machine guns following battles against Deby’s troops on Friday northeast of the city.

There has been intense gunfire in the city and witnesses report that army tanks have been burning in the streets. The country’s foreign minister however has said the President is safe and that the situation is under control. French Defense Ministry spokesman Christophe Pazouk told the BBC that the rebels numbered in the thousands and that they had entered the city with surprising ease.

The French and US embassies had begun evacuation procedures however once the rebels entered the city the French mission told its citizens to stay at home under cover.  French President Nicolas Sarkozy discussed the situation of France’s former colony with Deby and reinforced its military contingent on Friday. 

The rebels have said that if they take over they will impose transitional rule for two years before organizing free and fair elections.  Chad has had several coups since their independence from France in 1960.   

President Deby has been in power since 1990, and several years ago caused an outcry when he changed the constitution to allow him to run for a third term.   He has repeatedly been accused of corruption in the new oil sector, and recently there have been several defections from his clan-based inner circle to various rebel movements. 

Chad accuses the Sudanese government of aiding the rebels, claiming the rebels advanced from the war-torn Darfur region heavily armed.  Khartoum has repeatedly denied any such accusations.

Meanwhile, the African Union leaders meeting in Addis Ababa expressed concern over the situation in Chad which has led to a delayed deployment of European Union peacekeepers. 

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Chad rebels fight inside capital – 2 February 2008

Reuters – Rebels enter Chad’s capital, fight around palace – 2 February 2008

Reuters – France, US prepare to evacuate nationals from Chad – 2 February 2008

VOA News – Chadian Rebels, Government Forces Clash Inside Capital – 2 February 2008

Bloomberg – France Prepares Evacuation of Foreigners in Chad Amid Fighting – 2 February 2008

By Elizabeth Costner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

N’DJAMENA, Chad – Chadian rebels seeking to overthrow President Idriss Deby have made their way to the capital and are fighting government troops around the presidential palace.   The rebels closed in on the capital with their pickup trucks mounted with machine guns following battles against Deby’s troops on Friday northeast of the city.

There has been intense gunfire in the city and witnesses report that army tanks have been burning in the streets. The country’s foreign minister however has said the President is safe and that the situation is under control. French Defense Ministry spokesman Christophe Pazouk told the BBC that the rebels numbered in the thousands and that they had entered the city with surprising ease.

The French and US embassies had begun evacuation procedures however once the rebels entered the city the French mission told its citizens to stay at home under cover.  French President Nicolas Sarkozy discussed the situation of France’s former colony with Deby and reinforced its military contingent on Friday. 

The rebels have said that if they take over they will impose transitional rule for two years before organizing free and fair elections.  Chad has had several coups since their independence from France in 1960.   

President Deby has been in power since 1990, and several years ago caused an outcry when he changed the constitution to allow him to run for a third term.   He has repeatedly been accused of corruption in the new oil sector, and recently there have been several defections from his clan-based inner circle to various rebel movements. 

Chad accuses the Sudanese government of aiding the rebels, claiming the rebels advanced from the war-torn Darfur region heavily armed.  Khartoum has repeatedly denied any such accusations.

Meanwhile, the African Union leaders meeting in Addis Ababa expressed concern over the situation in Chad which has led to a delayed deployment of European Union peacekeepers. 

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Chad rebels fight inside capital – 2 February 2008

Reuters – Rebels enter Chad’s capital, fight around palace – 2 February 2008

Reuters – France, US prepare to evacuate nationals from Chad – 2 February 2008

VOA News – Chadian Rebels, Government Forces Clash Inside Capital – 2 February 2008

Bloomberg – France Prepares Evacuation of Foreigners in Chad Amid Fighting – 2 February 2008

By Myriam Clerge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Eastern and Southern Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya – Rival parties, President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, have agreed to an immediate peace plan to end the violence. Both sides signed a four point agenda covering short and long-term solutions to resolve the crisis.

According to former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, the immediate goals that can be handled or resolved within 7 to 15 days are: 1) an end to ethnically motivated killing; 2) delivery of humanitarian aid to the affected; 3) and resolving the immediate political crisis. The ethnic division and decades-old resentment is an issue that may take at least a year to resolve. All agree the most important issue right now is to maintain the peace and stop the killing.

Senior opposition official Musalia Mudavadi called on the public to disband any illegal militia. Kenya’s Justice Minister Martha Karua agreed and said “steps would be taken to protect life and property.”

At least, 850 people have died within 15 days and more than 300,000 are displaced.

Further negotiation and mediation are expected to resume on Monday.  Annan’s successor, Ban Ki-Moon traveled to Kenya for the day to express his support and appeal to the leaders and negotiators. In a released statement to the press, Ban asked both sides to “look beyond [their] individual interest. Look beyond the party lines.”

Although mediation is progressing, there are signs that things have not changed at all. A mob of 3,000, armed with machetes and clubs, killed a police officer in the home village of opposition lawmaker David Kimutai Too. Too was fatally shot by a police officer yesterday. Police claim the killing was the result of a love quarrel, and are treating it as a “crime of passion” but Odinga insists the killing was an assassination.

Loo’s murder triggered an on set of violence and added to the distrust of police, who have been accused of using excessive force.

Elsewhere one journalist reports to seeing 20 homes on fire and two policemen with arrow wounds during Annan’s press conference.

The road connecting Eldoret and Keircho, once 100 miles of one of the prettiest drives in the country has now become “a gauntlet of machete-wielding teenagers” with at least 20 checkpoints. Identification is demanded at these roadblocks to determine ethnic identity. 

The lawlessness in many regions of Kenya, like the country-side, has been compared to Somalia and Darfur, Sudan. With the nation in such a state of unrest, many wonder if Kenya can regain its national image as one of the continent’s more stable nations and strongest economies.

For more information please see:

The New York Times – Kenyan Peace Plan Reached, but Thievery Remains – 2 February 2008

Yahoo News – Kenyan Rivals Agree to End Violence – 1 February 2008

Reuters: Africa – Kenya’s Parties Agree to Stop Violence – 1 February 2008