Boko Haram May Select Suicide Bombers on The Basis of Race

Detained Boko Haram spokesman Abu Qaqa has told [Nigerian]State Security Service (SSS) officials how suicide bombers are chosen among members of the sec He also listed those being used for suicide bombing
as Chadians, Nigeriens, Camerounians, Hausa, Fulani and others, The Nation learnt yesterday. According to a source, Qaqa told a team of investigators that once a member is chosen for a suicide mission, he has no
option but to carry out the assignment.
The source added that any member who refuses to go on a suicide mission will instead face the death penalty.
The source said: “Based on the revelations of Qaqa, we have been able to invite more people for
interaction for more clues. “Our findings so far are appreciable because the suspect has been cooperative. At the appropriate time, the public will be briefed.”

The source quoted Qaqa as saying: “No suicide bomber of the group volunteers. They are usually
handpicked. Once you are handpicked, it is death either way; if you refused, you would be killed on the
orders of the leadership. So, many prefer the suicide bomb option, far away from their wives and children.
“At a point, some of us thought suicide bombing was ‘cowardice’, but confronting the leadership with such
a position would’ve come with a price: death.

“What was bad about those handpicked for the suicide mission was that all of them were non-Kanuri. They
were always Chadians, Nigeriens, Camerounians, Hausa, Fulani and others.
“No Kanuri. That was why some of us had divided opinion on it.”

Security chiefs are expected to meet with National Security Adviser (NSA) Owoye Azazi today to take
stock of the fight against Boko Haram and plan how to address the resurgence of the group, which has
been condemned by leading lights of Islam.

“One thing is clear, security agencies are on top of the situation,” a source said.
Also yesterday, the army launched a probe into how a suicide bomber, in military uniform, beat the heavy
security at the two gates leading to its Dalet Barracks 1 Division in Kaduna.

The Rest @ Vinienco

President of Chad to Marry Daughter of Accused Janjaweed War Criminal

The leader of the Darfurian Arab Mahameed clan Musa Hilal and Chadian president Idriss Deby (R)

December 30, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Chadian president Idriss Deby is engaged to the daughter of the notorious Darfuri Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal, according to a news report.

This has significant implications to the border relations between Darfar and Chad...Please comment with your thoughts...

-Shimron Issachar

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Leader of the Darfurian Arab Mahameed clan Musa Hilal (L) and Chadian president Idriss Deby (R)
The privately-owned al-Sudani newspaper said that Deby became engaged to Amani Musa Hilal during his most recent visit to Sudan, which took place last month.

Africa Alyom newspaper, quoting informed Chadian sources, said that Deby paid a $26 million dowry of which $25 million was paid to Musa Hilal and the rest to his daughter in the form of gold and jewelry.

The wedding is set to take place on 10 January 2012 at Rotana hotel in Khartoum, al-Sudani reported.

Hilal stands accused by many human rights groups of leading a terror campaign against the African tribes Sudan's western region of Darfur.

The leader of the Darfurian Arab Mahameed clan has denied any wrongdoing and told Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a videotaped interview in 2005, that he only recruited militias on behalf of Sudan's central government.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when an ethnic minority rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, which then was accused of enlisting the Janjaweed militia group to help crush the rebellion.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) imposed travel and financial sanctions on Hilal and three other individuals in April 2006. However, unlike other individuals including Sudan's president he is not wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Gaddafi Loyalsts Flee in Vast Numbers and May Destabilize Niger, CHAD, Sudan

• More than 150,000 people have already fled Libya into the northern part of Niger, which is mostly desert. 
• Security sources in Chad to Libya’s southeast cite arrivals of arms in the northern Tibesti mountains inhabited by Toubou rebels, and say the population of the Faya-Largeau, the main town of the region, has been swollen by Chadians fleeing Libya.
•  Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim has returned to neighbouring Sudan from his Libyan refuge, upsetting the delicate peace on the Chad-Sudan border.

*************************************

Long bedevilled by coups, rebellions and other home-grown troubles, Libya’s African neighbours have been landed with a new set of woes imported fresh from someone else’s war.

The arrival in Niger of 32 fleeing Muammar Gaddafi loyalists - including one of the ousted Libyan leader’s sons - in recent days is already a diplomatic headache for the government.

Yet that may just be a precursor to developments that would scare off foreign investment and further unsettle a region that is already a base for Al Qaeda-linked militants.

• Lacking the military might and technology to secure its northern borders, Niger this week warned that the Libyan conflict could turn into the next security and humanitarian crisis to afflict the drought-prone former French colony."We need your help and support on both scores,” Prime Minister Brigi Rafini appealed to local ambassadors during talks in the capital Niamey this week.
• More than 150,000 people have already fled Libya into the northern part of Niger, which is mostly desert. 
• Nigeriens and other sub-Saharan Africans have for years sought work in oil-rich Libya, where average income per head is 20 times Niger’s.
• Among them are gangs of local Tuareg nomads who were hired to fight on Gaddafi’s side and which in the past weeks have been spotted returning to their encampments in northern Niger.
• While the numbers so far are small, Niamey’s main worry is that a final capitulation of Gaddafi forces will drive thousands more of his Tuareg fighters back over the border to a country where they have for years led a string of rebellions.

“The Sahelo-Saharan strip is already insecure, with the activities of terrorists and drug traffickers. Now we seeing the return of young men with no source of employment but who know how to handle weapons,” said Ahmet Haidara, a parliamentarian in Niger’s north, said.

“We didn’t want this war but now we have to deal as best we can with the negative consequences,” said Haidara, who heads a Tuareg committee in contact with Libya’s new National Transitional Council rulers.

Aside from arms coming back with the Tuaregs, governments in the region believe trafficked weapons from Libya have fallen into the hands of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) allies behind a series of kidnappings of Westerners and other crime.

“Businesses operating in the region will face increased criminality and insecurity in the coming months as a result of the influx of arms and armed individuals or groups,” forecast Roddy Barclay, Africa analyst at London-based Control Risks.

That would not only make humanitarian work tougher, but be bad news for companies such as Areva, whose uranium mines in the northern town of Arlit supply France’s nuclear sector. The target of an AQIM hostage-taking a year ago, Areva began returning its expatriate workers to northern Niger in July under tightened security. Citing the increased measures, an Areva spokesman said the company was ready for all eventualities.

Neighbouring Mali, where AQIM is thought still to be holding a group of four French hostages from the Arlit kidnappings, faces the same set of concerns as Niger.

It too is seeing a recent respite from a rebellion launched on its soil by Tuaregs, whom one senior military source linked to new signs of a trade in weapons trafficked from Libya. Others fear an opportunity for AQIM.

“The influx of arms into the region cannot but strengthen AQIM,” Burkinabe parliamentarian Melegue Traore said at talks on regional security and other issues in Niamey this week.

“It’s a golden opportunity for them - I’m sure the West didn’t think it would be like this,” he added.
Security sources in Chad to Libya’s southeast cite arrivals of arms in the northern Tibesti mountains inhabited by Toubou rebels, and say the population of the Faya-Largeau, the main town of the region, has been swollen by Chadians fleeing Libya.

But their main concern is the return of Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim to neighbouring Sudan from his Libyan refuge, upsetting the delicate peace on the Chad-Sudan border.

“Chad, which has a non-aggression pact with Sudan, has put its troops on alert in case Sudanese rebels try to enter Chad,” said one of the security sources.

Events in Libya over coming days could well determine how big an impact is seen on stability in the fragile region.

For now, the hand-wringing in Niamey over what to do with the Gaddafi loyalists - including his son Saadi - highlights the challenges facing governments which had learned how to live with Gaddafi’s mix of irksome meddling and erratic generosity.

Niger has stressed the Libyans are under surveillance rather than detention, as they are not being sought for arrest and so are being granted refuge on humanitarian grounds.

That stance might appease the local politicians who have sampled Gaddafi’s generosity, but would be tested if Libya’s new leaders and the West push for the fugitives to be handed over - particularly given Niger’s reliance on foreign aid.

While many African states have only begrudgingly recognised Libya’s National Transitional Council, whose members are largely unknown south of the Sahara, some analysts argue they will fare better after Gaddafi’s fall.

“With the Gaddafi regime no longer playing regional governments off against each other, co-operation on issues such as border control, counter-narcotics and the creation of a regional task-force should face less disruption,” argued Control Risks’ Barclay. – Reuters

By Mark John/Niamey, Niger

The Rest @ Gulf Times

The Toubou and Qaddafi

The Toubou (Old Tebu: "Rock People;"[1] also written Tibu, Tibbu, Tebu, Tubu, Tebou, Umbararo) are an ethnic group that live mainly in northern Chad, but also in Libya, Niger and Sudan.

The majority of Toubou live in the north of Chad around the Tibesti mountains (Old Tebu: "Rocky Mountains," whence the Toubou's own name.) Numbering roughly 350,000, they are mostly Muslim. Most Toubou are herders and nomads, though many are now semi-nomadic. Their society is clan-based, with each clan having certain oases, pastures and wells. They are divided in two closely-associated people, the Teda and the Daza.

Many of Chad's leaders have been Toubou, including Presidents Goukouni Oueddei, Hissène Habré and Idriss Déby.

The Toubou minority in Libya suffered persecution under the Gaddafi regime. In a report released by the UNHCR, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) reported "massive discrimination" against the Toubou minority, which resides in the southeastern corner of the country around the oasis town of Kufra.

• In December 2007, the Gaddafi government stripped Toubou Libyans of their citizenship, claiming that they were not Libyans, but rather Chadians.
• In addition, local authorities denied Toubou people access to education and healthcare.
• In response, an armed group called the Front for the Salvation of Toubou Libyans staged an uprising in November 2008 which lasted for five days and claimed 33 lives before being crushed by government security forces.
• Despite resistance and public condemnation, the Gaddafi regime continued its persecution of the Toubou minority in Libya.
• Beginning in November 2009, the government began a program of forced eviction and demolition of Toubou homes, rendering many Toubou homeless.
• Several dozen who protested the destruction were arrested, and families who refused to leave their homes were beaten.[2]

In the 2011 Libyan civil war, Toubou tribespeople in Libya sided with the rebel anti-Gaddafi forces and participated in the Southern Libyan Desert campaign against forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, briefly capturing the town of Al Qatrun[3] and claiming to capture Murzuk for the rebel movement a month later.[4]

The Rest @ Wikipedia

AQIM now may have Russian SA-7s.

This is a separate source confirmation that AQIM now has Surface to Air Missiles, probably SA-7s. The means and route of transport suggests that the convoys discussed below are being led or contracked by Abdelmalek Droukdel, of AQIM.

-Shimron Issachar

*******

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Al Qaeda is exploiting the conflict in Libya to acquire weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, and smuggle them to a stronghold in northern Mali, a security official from neighbouring Algeria told Reuters.

• The official said a convoy of eight Toyota pick-up trucks left eastern Libya, crossed into Chad and then Niger, and from there into northern Mali where in the past few days it delivered a cargo of weapons.
• He said the weapons included Russian-made RPG-7 anti-tank rocket-propelled grenades, Kalashnikov heavy machine guns, Kalashnikov rifles, explosives and ammunition.
• He also said he had information that al Qaeda's north African wing, known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), had acquired from Libya Russian-made shoulder-fired Strela surface-to-air missiles known by the NATO designation SAM-7.

(picture of Nicaraguan Soldier with SA-7, source)

"A convoy of eight Toyotas full of weapons travelled a few days ago through Chad and Niger and reached northern Mali," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The weapons included RPG-7s, FMPK (Kalashnikov heavy machine guns), Kalashnikovs, explosives and ammunition ... and we know that this is not the first convoy and that it is still ongoing," the official told Reuters.

• "Several military barracks have been pillaged in this region (eastern Libya) with their arsenals and weapons stores and the elements of AQIM who were present could not have failed to profit from this opportunity."
• "AQIM, which has maintained excellent relations with smugglers who used to cross Libya from all directions without the slightest difficulty, will probably give them the task of bringing it the weapons," said the official. Continued...

The official said that al Qaeda was exploiting disarray among forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and had also infiltrated the anti-Gaddafi rebels in eastern Libya.

The rebels deny any ties to al Qaeda. U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe, said last week intelligence showed only "flickers" of an al Qaeda presence in Libya, with no significant role in the Libyan uprising.

"AQIM ... is taking advantage by acquiring the most sophisticated weapons such as SAM-7s (surface-to-air missiles), which are equivalent to Stingers," he said, referring to a missile system used by the U.S. military.

Algeria has been fighting a nearly two-decade insurgency by Islamist militants who in the past few years have been operating under the banner of al Qaeda. Algeria's security forces also monitor al Qaeda's activities outside its borders.

The security official said the Western coalition which has intervened in Libya had to confront the possibility that if Gaddafi's regime falls, al Qaeda could exploit the resulting chaos to extend its influence to the Mediterranean coast.

"If the Gaddafi regime goes, it is the whole of Libya -- in terms of a country which has watertight borders and security and customs services which used to control these borders -- which will disappear, at least for a good time, long enough for AQIM to re-deploy as far as the Libyan Mediterranean."

"In the case of Libya, the coalition forces must make an urgent choice. To allow chaos to settle in, which will necessitate ... a ground intervention with the aim of limiting the unavoidable advance of AQIM towards the southern coast of the Mediterranean, or to preserve the Libyan regime, with or without Gaddafi, to restore the pre-uprising security situation," the official told Reuters.

The Rest @ Reuters

AQIM Loots Libya SA Missiles moves them to Tenere

Paris, France - The terrorist group Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has taken advantage of the looting of arsenals by insurgents to seize Libya's surface-to-air missiles, which they have transferred to their sanctuary located in Ténéré in the Sahara, according to Chadian President Idriss Deby. 'The Islamists took advantage of the looting of arsenals in the rebel zone to stock up on weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, which they subsequently transferred to their sanctuaries. This is serious,' he warned in an interview published Monday by Jeune Afrique. The Chadian President said that AQIM terrorists were becoming the best equipped army in the entire sub-region by taking advantage of military raids of the international coalition, led by France, against Libya. 'I am utterly sure that AQIM has stocked up on arms from Libya. I ‘am also sure that AQIM has taken an active part in the uprising in Libya. To what extent, I don’t know,' President Déby said. He also warned that the crisis in Libya may affect his country, due to the closeness of the two neighbouring countries.'These are relations between brotherly people, what is happening in Libya may have consequences on Chad,' President Déby said.Pana 29/03/2011

Last Post for a While

I have been writing this blog since 2006. It began when I was doing business intelligence work, gathering information about one of the technical industries in some East Africa Countries. What I came across was information leading to a conclusion that I still hold, and that that al Qaeda has a clear and specific strategy targeting Africa.

It was not new. Bill Moyers sums it up as well as anyone:

"When the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan in early 1989, bin Laden and Azzam decided that their new organization should not dissolve. They established what they called a base (al Qaeda) as a potential general headquarters for future jihad. However, bin Laden, now the clear emir of al Qaeda, and Azzam differed on where the organization's future objectives should lie. Azzam favored continued fighting in Afghanistan until there was a true Islamist government, while bin Laden wanted to prepare al Qaeda to fight anywhere in the world. When Azzam was killed in 1989, bin Laden assumed full charge of al Qaeda. " - Moyers Journal

What I am saying is that their was, and is, a specific Islamist plan for Africa, with the al Qaeda as the tip of the spear.

In 2006 no one was really looking at Africa and the Islamist Agenda, so I began to track the movement of key people and groups working this agenda. Frankly I was surprised at the transparency and sophistication of the plan, how open they were about their agenda, and how ignored by the Western World they were. Their moneymaking activities, their large business and in some cases Royal funding supporters were very obvious.

It is clear now that their are many, many western eyes on Africa and the Islamist agenda, both in Africa and around the world, and so I am no longer needed. I want to give one, mostly final, summary for the analysts out there.

First, I think the Long War is almost half over. The West currently has the upper hand as can be seen in Pakistan, but it will eventually move to Africa in less than a year.

Somalia is still in a stalemate. Somaliland will soon be recognized, and the corrupt TFG group will be abandoned, since they seem to be inherently incapable of caring for their own people in a peaceful without tribal lenses. This does not mean that war will stop in Somalia. The Middle East will continue to fund psalmist groups, who will tray and export the Islamist war into Ethiopia and Kenya. The West will continue to find ways to fight them.

The next place for the war to spring up will be in South Sudan, which will vote to secede in less than a year, and is preparing for the inevitable attack from the North when this happens. Both sides are even now arming for this war. This event will be the fulcrum that shifts the focus of the war from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq into Africa.


West Africa's local wars (Morroco, Algeria, Mauritania, etc) will continue to fight, and they will continue to take money from the al qaeda or whoever else will fund them. . AQIM's network of recruiters can be hunted down and stopped. However, the purchase (some call it recruitment) of suicide bomber children from poor west african families, will be attempted again.

The Islamist Agenda will ultimately fail in Africa, but not because of any Western power, but because African's will never fully accept the Salafiyya Dawa. The Sufi's will never submit, the Christians will continue to grow, since it's aims are clearly peacfull, but the Sunni missionary work, which sends islamist agents in to establish relationships with local Muslim leaders, are even now carefully watched by every African country's intelligence service.

US ( AFRICOM) UK, French and Russian agendas are already in play, but China will try their hand at mediation, since the buy the Majority of Sudan's oil exports.

China: the Great Asian Father

China 's investment in Africa has grown exponentially in the last four years. They are spending lots of money, but they are very new and still significantly imperialistic in their approach. They are simply buying as many raw materials as they can from Africa. They are soon to discover that Africans expect more than money for their resources, they see them as the new "White Father"

Human and Weapon's trafficking will continue until Africa, Unless Africa herself comes to believe she can stop it. Local wars, currently the Congo will continue to spring up. The UN now has more troops in Africa than they ever had, and I see no end in site.


Dough Farah, Creeping Sharia, the Long War Journal, Global Security,keep up the good work, I will keep reading your stuff. Also thanks to the brave journalists in Somalia who keep writing , and keep paying the price.





Shimron Issachar
On Twitter

Troops Massing on Sudan-Chad Border

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon3 May 2009 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced his concern today at reports of the recent build-up and movement of armed elements on both sides of the Chad-Sudan border, and called on the two countries to ease tensions.

“In this context, the Secretary-General welcomes the discussions towards the normalization of bilateral relations between the Governments of Chad and Sudan held this week in Doha,” Mr. Ban''s spokesperson said in a statement issued today.

The Secretary-General, in his most recent report on the deployment of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), stated that “the security situation along the Sudan-Chad border continued to be tense and unpredictable” during February and March of this year.

Last week in a briefing to the Security Council, Rodolphe Adada, the Joint African Union-UN Special Representative for Darfur and head of UNAMID, cited the state of relations between Sudan and Chad as an important factor with regard to the ongoing conflict in Darfur.

An estimated 300,000 people have been killed and another 2.7 million have been forced from their homes in Darfur since fighting erupted in 2003, pitting rebels against Government forces and allied Janjaweed militiamen.

The Rest@ UN.org
Darfur: blue helmets scaling up protection of civilians, official says

Chad Rebels -Forces Progressistes pour l'Independence et la Renaissance-Operate from Cameroon

Peterkins Manyong
30 January 2009

-Following the inability of rebels based in Chad to oust President Idris Deby, a new resistance movement will reportedly operate from Cameroon, The Post has learnt.

The new rebel force, claiming to be named the "Forces Progressistes pour l'Independence et la Renaissance" roughly translated as "Progressive Force for Independence and Rebirth."

It has been launched by the "Forum for Exiled Chadians in Central Africa" better known by its French acronym as FECAT.

The politico-military movement, as it is described, has its headquarters in Douala and will reportedly launch attacks on the Chadian army from Southern Chad.

A Chadian citizen, who spoke to The Post in confidence, wondered how a serious movement which intends to carry out operations in the south of the country could succeed pitching tents thousands of kilometres away. He said he was sure that the aim of the movement was to force the government of President Deby to the negotiating table.

Already, seven of the more than a dozen rebels fighting the Chadian government formed a coalition a week ago and is in the process of absorbing many more.

Our informant attributed the failure so far of the Chadian rebel forces to greed and vaulting ambition of their leaders, each of whom is determined to be the next president.

He regretted that the press statement of the rebels would so scare the Chadian Government as to cause the tightening of security around the borders, making it difficult for Chadian citizens to return to their fatherland.

The Rest @ African News Analysis

UFDD Video

Here is a Brand New video From the UFDD rebels led by Abakar Tollimi .
Note the close up on the passanger in Front Seat of the Truck. He looks familiar, but Ican't quite place him.

-Shimron

Sudan and Chad agree to Not Support Each other's Rebels

Dakar

After hours of wrangling over the text of their sixth peace accord in two years, Chadian President Idriss Deby and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir signed the latest agreement late on 13 March in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, vowing once again to stop providing support to rebel groups opposing the other.

The stated aim of the accord is "to put an end, once and for all, to disputes between the two countries and re-establish peace in the sub-region."

The accord was mediated by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and signed during the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in the presence of UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon and an array of African leaders and Arab and western diplomats.

Past agreements also called on both sides to stop providing safe haven to rebel groups.

• In Chad, rebels bent on ousting President Deby have launched countless attacks including one in February which reached the capital N'djamena.
• In Sudan, rebels are fighting government forces and allied militias in Darfur the region bordering Chad.

A new element in the latest accord is that Chad and Sudan agree to a "contact group" led by Libya and the Republic of Congo which would meet monthly and monitor compliance.

Chadian rebels have already dismissed the new peace pact and vowed to pursue their campaign to overthrow President Deby unless he agreed to a dialogue, according to reports.

Yet the sultan of the Fur, the largest ethnic group in Darfur, was optimistic about the new agreement. "I am hopeful that Sudan and Chad will stop supporting each other's rebels and this will reduce tensions," Sultan Salah Eldine Mahamat Fadoul told IRIN in an exclusive interview while visiting Dakar for the OIC meeting.

"I think Chad and Sudan really need to calm the situation down. The [proxy] war between them has cost them both a lot," he said.

The Rest @ AllAfrica.com

China reports a ceasefire proposal by Gaddafi of Libya has been accepted by Mahamat Nouri -this has been deined by rebel spokesman Mahamat Hassane Boulmaye operating out of Sudan.

This would be little more than a roumer for the moment....

-Shimron


"Chadian rebels who were fighting in the capital city of Ndjamena have accepted a cease-fire proposed by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, media reported Sunday.

Libya's official news agency Jana reported that Gaddafi contacted the chief of the biggest rebel force, former diplomat Mahamat Nouri. Nouri agreed to a cease-fire and to talks aimed at implementing a peace and reconciliation agreement.

The African Union Saturday appointed Gaddafi a mediator in the crisis in the oil-rich Central African nation.

However, rebel spokesman Mahamat Hassane Boulmaye said he had not heard of any cease-fire and did not believe Nouri would agree to an unconditional end to hostilities.

"The fighters would rebel," Boulmaye said in a phone call to The Associated Press. He added that he was speaking from the border with Sudan and had not spoken to Nouri since Saturday afternoon.

It is reported that earlier government troops were fighting back rebels amid reports that at least 400 were in the city and had broken into the presidential palace.

The Rest @ China.org

N'Djamena Appears to have Fallen

N'Djamena - Chad's rebel forces appear to have taken the capital N'Djamena.

Unconfirmed reports say several thousand heavily armed rebels have entered the city and surrounded the presidential palace.

There are reports of heavy fighting but there is no word on President Idriss Déby.

The rebels, who are backed by Sudan, began advancing on the capital earlier this week, after leaving in a convoy of several hundred trucks from the border with Sudan.

France has sent a plane to evacuate hundreds of French citizens and other foreigners. US nationals have been urged to report to the embassy.

The United Nations is withdrawing its entire staff. The deployment of a European Union peacekeeping force due to begin on Friday evening has been suspended.

The EU force was to be stationed along the border with Sudan to protect local residents, refugees from Darfur and UN staff.

The Rest @ Radio Netherlands

Sudan Backed Rebes Mount Major offensive to Take the Chadian Capital, Battle at Massaguet

The watch for the release of missionary Cash Steve Godbold has been complicated by apparent coorindated Rebel Attacks in Chad, with rebel forces moving on the Capital from both the South and the East.

The following is from today's Ramadji, a local Chad e-newspaper.

-Shimron

February 1, 2008 (NDJAMENA) — Fighting broke out Friday between Chadian government forces and rebels just 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of the capital Ndjamena, military and rebel sources said.

A military source said "heavy fighting" had been underway for about an hour as government forces engaged the main rebel force around the town of Massaguet.

Rebel sources, contacted by satellite phone, confirmed the outbreak of hostilities and said they had been bombed by Chadian air force planes.

The rebel alliance led by Timan Erdimi, Mahamat Nouri and Adbelwahid Aboud Makaye moved on Ndjamena after crossing southern Chad from bases in west Sudan, which Ndjamena accuses of backing the rebel militias.

Chadian government troops led by President Idriss Beby Itno had rushed back to defend the capital on Thursday, while France announced it was boosting its forces in the country in response to the unrest.

Government soldiers had initially driven east to intercept the rebels, but the head of state and a small escort returned to Ndjamena and formed a "belt" around the city, a military source said.

The manoeuvring came on the day the advance guard of an EU peacekeeping force was due to begin deploying.

The head of the EUFOR operation, General Jean-Philippe Ganascia, said any rebel advance would only delay, not divert, his mission.France, Chad’s former colonial master, flew an extra company of troops into Chad from Libreville on Friday to protect its nationals, and has closed down its school in Ndjamena as a precaution.

"Precautionary measures are being taken for the French nationals in the eventuality of trouble in Ndjamena, including a reinforcement of the Sparrowhawk group," a source close to French Defence Minister Herve Morin said.

Some 2,000 French soldiers have been deployed in Chad since 1986 under the codename Sparrowhawk. Morin said in Washington Thursday — rounding up a 36-hour visit to the United States — that France would fulfil its commitments to Chad, which include logistical support to the Chadian army and help with intelligence.

The EUFOR mission is tasked with protecting refugees from the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, just over Chad’s eastern border, as well as Chadians and people of the neighbouring Central African Republic displaced by internal conflict.

Ganascia said the military stand-off in the country could delay his mission "by a few days" thanks to logistics problems, but not divert it."I am not concerned (by the rebel manoeuvres) unless during their offensive they threaten or attack civilians, or the non-governmental organisations, or UN personnel," he said in Abeche. But he added that if the rebels confront the EU force "believe me, I will face them down."

Observers had feared that rebels could begin a new offensive before March. "They have a window to fight before the effective deployment of the European force fixes positions on the ground, which the Sudanese want," one told AFP.Both sides said French military reconnaissance planes were flying regular sorties to gather information on rebel movements.

About 234,000 Darfur refugees, along with 179,000 displaced eastern Chadians and 43,000 Central Africans uprooted by strife and rebellion in the north of their country, are housed in camps in the region.The last clash in eastern Chad claimed several hundred lives on both sides in November 2007, and rebels last moved on Ndjamena in April 2006.

The Rest @ Ramadji.com

Rebels in Chad Appear to have taken Ati

N'DJAMENA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - A Chadian rebel column advanced along the main road west towards the capital N'Djamena on Thursday but split up when confronted by the army and there was no threat to the city, officials said.

Army helicopters bombarded the rebels who the government says crossed from Sudan earlier this week with backing from the neighbouring country's government, a military source said.
President Idriss Deby, a French-trained former fighter pilot with a penchant for taking personal command on the battlefield, headed out to bolster government forces facing the rebels but later returned to N'Djamena, a presidency official said.

"From the military point of view there is no threat to the capital ... the government is taking the necessary measures," said the official, who declined to be named.

A government crisis committee was due to meet on Thursday evening and a Reuters witness said troops took up defensive positions on main roads into N'Djamena from the north and east.
A security source in N'Djamena, declining to be named, said earlier a rebel column of 300 vehicles had passed through the town of Ati and halted 250 km (150 miles) east of N'Djamena where a Chadian army column had moved up to confront it.

"There is a Chadian army column in front of them and there are other Chadian forces between them and the capital," he said.

Opposition Web sites said the rebels had taken Ati.

The Rest @ Reuters Africa

Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT) to Release Godbold?

The MDJT and the Christian Missionary organization TEAM have both issued press releases suggesting a relatively the ammicable release of Cash Steve Godbold.

-Shimron

(Wkipedia) Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (French: Mouvement pour la democratie et la justice au Tchad, abbreviated as MDJT) is a Chadian rebel group that tried to oust the government of the current Chadian president Idriss Déby from October 1998-2003.
The movement was founded by Youssouf Togoïmi, Déby's former Defense Minister, and operated primarily in Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti and the Tibesti Mountains.

Though MDJT fought mostly against the Chadian Military, they were accused of assassinating the President of an opposition party in 1999, but no evidence supports this claim.

MDJT began negotiating with the Chadian government in January 2002 and signed a treaty giving amnesty to all MDJT rebels who stopped fighting. A MDJT remnant continued to fight to on a smaller scale until another agreement was signed in December 2003. This accord ensured high-ranking government positions for MDJT members.

Togoïmi died in September 2002 in a Libyan hospital from injuries he had received a few days earlier when his truck hit a landmine. Togoïmi is buried in Libya.



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More , more, and even more



U.S. missionary held in Chad to be freed soon: group
Yahoo! Canada - 1/14/2008
N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Rebels in northern Chad are expected to release shortly a U.S. missionary they seized in October on the suspicion he was a Chadian government spy, a member of the organization he worked for said on Sunday. Cash Steven Godbold, a member of the Christian organization The Evangeli
US missionary held in Chad to be freed soon -group
AlertNet - 1/13/2008
N'DJAMENA, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Rebels in northern Chad are expected to release shortly a U.S. missionary they seized in October on the suspicion he was a Chadian government spy, a member of the organisation he worked for said on Sunday. Cash Steven Godbold, a member of the Christian organisation The
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Godbold to be Released Soon

N'DJAMENA, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Rebels in northern Chad are expected to release shortly a U.S. missionary they seized in October on the suspicion he was a Chadian government spy, a member of the organisation he worked for said on Sunday.

Cash Steven Godbold, a member of the Christian organisation The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM), was kidnapped on Oct. 11 in the northern Tibesti mountains near the Libyan border by the rebel Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT).

At the time of his seizure, Godbold was working on a humanitarian assistance project drilling water wells in the Zoumri region, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The MDJT, which was formed in 1998, issued statements last week saying its inquiries showed Godbold was not working for the Chadian government as it had originally suspected.

"We expect him to be released shortly ... hopefully in a week," the Reverend Carl Hodges of the TEAM organisation in Chad told Reuters by telephone.

At the request of the MDJT, another humanitarian organisation working in Chad was helping to arrange the release of the kidnapped missionary, Hodges said, adding that this organisation had asked that its name not be released.

"I myself talked to him (Godbold) on December 28. I was able to confirm that he was fine -- the only thing he wanted was his liberty," Hodges said.

He said the MDJT, which in 1998 launched an armed insurgency in Chad's north under the leadership of President Idriss Deby's former defence chief, Youssouf Togoimi, had made no demands.


(Reporting by Pascal Fletcher; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Chad Peacekeepers and Aid Plan May Confuse Local Chadians

Chad: Dual Peacekeeping Mission Seeks to Dispel Confusion
11 January 2008
Posted to the web 12 January 2008
Ndjamena

With Chadian rebel groups constantly changing, inter-communal fighting frequently breaking out, and tension with neighbouring Sudan increasing, some humanitarian officials in Chad fear the planned presence of simultaneous UN and European Union (EU) police and military forces will only add to the confusion.

"We have our questions about the deployment," said Guinlhelm Molinie, head of Médecins Sans Frontières Luxembourg, which works in northeastern Chad. "We don't know if it's to protect humanitarians, refugees, the areas of return, the east of Chad. The official line varies."

"We are waiting to see how this force will act on the ground and whether it will do any good. We have some doubts about it, that's for sure."

The concerns about confusion are understandable, according to Lt-Col Jan Vall, deputy chief of the military liaison officers of the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT). Vall is charged with coordinating between the UN mission and the other forces on the ground.
"It will be very complicated for the [local] people to manage and for humanitarians - for everyone - to know the difference," he agreed.

• "I will be there in uniform, without arms, with a UN logo.
• The EU will be there with arms, with the EU logo.
• The French [troops stationed in Chad for more than two decades and who support Chadian President Idriss Déby] will be there, with the same uniforms as the French working for the EU, but with a French logo, and with a different interest, etc., etc,"

Vall told IRIN

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More news on Steve Godbold in Chad

I found this little post dated 18 October By Bonny Apunyu on Somalinet
The reason it has not surfaced before is because the Paper quoted his name as Steve Goldbold, and then later Goldberg....It appears that the Somali newspaper is quoting from the AFP directly for his article, suggesting a first or second level contact with the Tubu at the AFP.

A Somalinet is an online newspaper focused on mostly local Somali news. My experience with the newspaper is that it provides mostly reliable local news. I am somewhat surprise to find interest two thousand kilometers to the West in Chad.

...I wonder if there is a Somali - Northern Chad Rebel connection....

In either case here is a summary article as written on 18 October 2007 on Somalinet

-Shimron Issachar

Thu. October 18, 2007 11:48 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. -

(SomaliNet) Northern Chadian Tubu rebels in Tibesti have captured a United States humanitarian worker participating in an aid project, rebels said on Thursday.

"The Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT) has detained an American aid worker... in the the area controlled by the MDJT," according to a statement obtained by AFP from a branch of the armed rebel group.

Cash Steve Goldbold was abducted on October 10 by Tubu rebels, MDJT leader Aboubakar Choua Dazi told AFP in a telephone interview. Goldbold, 48, is an evangelical Christian aid worker on mission for the Development Association of Tibesti, according to documents obtained by AFP.

The MDJT "suspects this person is in the service of the regime in N'Djamena to create division in the centre of the movement", said Dazi, saying that their hostage was "in good health and well-treated".

Goldbold was captured in the Tibesti area, some 1 000 kilometres north of the capital N'Djamena, he added.

"The local population tried to negotiate to free him," a member of his group told AFP on the condition of anonymity, confirming the abduction. The source said Goldberg, from Miami, Florida, had been in Chad since 1992. Goldbold has lived in the area "for the past five years, and he is not a foreigner" there, the source said, adding that he "has a Tubu name, Wordougou Mollia". The MDJT said in the statement it was "inclined to liberate this person" to send him back to "his own country," but warned the authorities "of all attempts to take him by force".

It "called on all foreign aid workers to not venture into the areas controlled by the MDJT". Created in 1988, MDJT once constituted a major threat to the Deby government, but was weakened and has split into several factions since the death of its founder Youssouf Togoimi in 2002.-AFP

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The Toubou from the Tibesti Mountains

The Toubou (also called Tebu or Tubu or Tebou) are an ethnic group that live mainly in northern Chad, but also in Libya, Niger and Sudan.

The majority of Toubou live in the north of Chad around the Tibesti mountains ('Toubou' means 'man from Tibesti'). Numbering roughly 350,000, they are Muslim.

Most Toubou are herders and nomads, though many are now semi-nomadic. Their society is clan-based, with each clan having certain oases, pastures and wells. They are divided in two closely-associated people, the Teda and the Daza.

Many of Chad's leaders have been Toubou, including Presidents Goukouni Oueddei and Hissène

• Toubou life centers on their livestock (their major source of wealth and sustenance) and on the scattered oases where they or their herders cultivate dates and grain. I
• n a few places, the Toubou (or more often members of the Haddad group who work for them) also mine salt and natron, a salt like substance used for medicinal purposes and for livestock.
• The Toubou family is made up of parents, children, and another relative or two. Although the husband or father is the head of the household, he rarely makes decisions without consulting his wife.
• When he is absent, his wife often takes complete charge, moving family tents, changing pastures, and buying and selling cattle. Although Toubou men may have several wives, few do.
• Families gather in larger camps during the months of transhumance. Camp membership is fluid, sometimes changing during the season and almost never remaining the same from one season to the next.
• After the family, the clan is the most stable Toubou institution. Individuals identify with their clan, which has a reputed founder, a name, a symbol, and associated taboos.
• Clans enjoy collective priority use of certain palm groves, cultivable land, springs, and pastures; outsiders may not use these resources without clan permission.
• Social relations are based on reciprocity, hospitality, and assistance. Theft and murder within the clan are forbidden, and stolen animals must be returned.
  
• Within the overall context of clan identity, however, Toubou society is shaped by the individual. Jean Chapelle, a well-known observer of Chadian societies, notes that "it is not society that forms the individual, but the individual who constructs the society most useful" for him or her.

Three features of Toubou social structure make this process possible.

• The first is residence. In general, clan members are scattered throughout a region; therefore, an individual is likely to find hospitable clans people in most settlements or camps of any size.
• A second factor is the maintenance of ties with the maternal clan. Although the maternal clan does not occupy the central place of the potential clan, it provides another universe of potential ties.
• Marriage creates a third set of individual options. Although relatives and the immediate family influence decisions about a marriage partner, individual preference is recognized as important. In addition, once a marriage is contracted between individuals of two clans, other clan members are forbidden to change it. The Toubou proscribe marriage with any blood relative less than four generations removed - in the words of the Toubou recorded by Chapelle, "when there are only three grandfathers."
• The ownership of land, animals, and resources takes several forms. Within an oasis or settled zone belonging to a particular clan, land, trees (usually date palms), and nearby wells may have different owners. Each family's rights to the use of particular plots of land are recognized by other clan members. Families also may have privileged access to certain wells and the right to a part of the harvest from the fields irrigated by their water. Within the clan and family contexts, individuals also may have personal claims to palm trees and animals.
• Toubou legal customs are based on restitution, indemnification, and revenge. Conflicts are resolved in several settings. Murder, for example, is settled directly between the families of the victim and the murderer.
• Toubou honor requires that someone from the victim's family try to kill the murderer or a relative; such efforts eventually end with negotiations to settle the matter. Reconciliation follows the payment of the goroga, or blood price, usually in the form of camels.
• Despite shared linguistic heritage, few institutions among the Toubou generate a broader sense of identity than the clan. Regional divisions do exist, however. During the colonial period (and since independence in 1960), Chadian administrations have conferred legality and legitimacy on these regional groupings by dividing the Toubou and Daza regions into corresponding territorial units called cantons and appointing chiefs to administer them.
• Only among the Teda of the Tibesti region have institutions evolved somewhat differently. Since the end of the 16th century, the derde (spiritual head) of the Tomagra clan has exercised authority over part of the massif and the other clans who live there. He is selected by a group of electors according to strict rules. The derde exercises judicial rather than executive power, arbitrating conflict and levying sanctions based on a code of compensations.

During the civil conflict in Chad (1966–1993), the derde came to occupy a more important position. In 1965 the Chadian government assumed direct authority over the Tibesti Mountains, sending a military garrison and administrators to Bardaï, the capital of Tibesti Subprefecture.

Within a year, abuses of authority had roused considerable opposition among the Toubou. The derde, Oueddei Kichidemi, recognized but little respected up to that time, protested the excesses, went into exile in Libya, and, with the support of Toubou students at the Islamic University of Al Bayda, became a symbol of opposition to the Chadian government.

This role enhanced the position of the derde among the Toubou. After 1967 the derde hoped to rally the Toubou to the National Liberation Front of Chad (FROLINAT). Moral authority became military authority shortly thereafter when his son, Goukouni Oueddei, became one of the leaders of the Second Liberation Army of FROLINAT.

Goukouni was to become a national figure; he played an important role in the battles of N'Djamena in 1979 and 1980 and served as head of state for a time. Another northerner, Hissène Habré of the Daza Annakaza, replaced Goukouni in 1982, and lost eventually power to Idriss Dédy, a Zaghawa.

The Rest @ Wikipedia