December 6,2008:
Since the 3,700 EU peacekeepers can only cover about half the refugee
camps in eastern Chad (containing nearly half a million Sudanese and Chadian
refugees), the bandits have figured out which camps are vulnerable, and
concentrated on looting and robbing in those areas. NGOs are prime targets, and
some of these medical and food relief operations have been shut down until
government or EU forces can move in to make it temporarily safe. So far this
year, there have been 10-20 attacks on NGO personnel a month. The UN is calling for an UN force of 6,000 peacekeepers
to replace the EU troops, but no one is eager to send their soldiers to such a
remote and hostile place.
The biggest
problem any peacekeepers face is the gangs of bandits and Darfur rebels who
live off the camps. There are dozens of these groups, and some of them contain
a hundred or more armed men. The principal Darfur rebel group, JEM, often keeps
family members in Chad refugee camps, and think nothing of coming by, gun in
hand, for a visit. This is a true frontier area, beyond the law, and full of
characters, carrying guns and willing to kill if pushed. JEM, and the bandits,
also recruit in the camps. For a teenage guy, the prospect of getting a gun, and with it the license to
kill and steal, is appealing. The risks are ignored by many people that age,
and that makes the recruiters job a lot
easier.
Chad and
Sudan are now at peace, so there are no major military operations along the
border. But it's a big border, and any peacekeepers in Eastern Chad are but a
few ink spots on a huge canvas (over 300,000 square kilometers) that is the border
region with Sudan. The 1,500 kilometer long frontier is mostly desert and
brush, with the refugees in twelve major camps, and many more smaller, and
often improvised ones. The peacekeepers have to devote considerable resources
to defending themselves, and their own bases. The local bandits know the
terrain, and give the peacekeepers a wide berth. The UN is determined to get
food and medical aid to the refugees, and the bandits are determined to steal
as much of this aid as they can. Only the peacekeepers, and occasionally the
Chadian security forces (who often go rogue and steal themselves), can put a
dent in the theft. The UN has to pay an increasingly larger portion of the aid
money to hire locals as security guards, or just give the money to local
warlords to purchase "protection."
Welcome to
hell. All donations eagerly accepted.