April 9, 2006:
The continuing raids by Sudanese tribesmen have sent over 50,000 Chad civilians fleeing from their villages. Some of the Sudanese raiders belong to tribes with branches in Chad. Same thing with the victims. Like Sudan, Chad has tribes that consider themselves Arab, while others consider themselves just African. There has always been animosity between the two groups, although intermarriage, rape and slavery have resulted in both groups looking much alike, and sharing languages and customs.
Sudan continues to receive the support of other Arab nations, especially Egypt. The Arab nations oppose bringing in UN, and especially European, peacekeepers. This would offend the dignity of the Arab world (the way overthrowing Saddam Hussein did), thus the Arabs allow the ethnic cleansing of Darfur to continue, even though the victims are Moslem. These attacks are less painful to Arabs because the victims are black Africans, who have always been held in low esteem by Arabs, even if the Africans are Moslem. The UN, however, will not stop criticizing Sudan for its support of the violence. However, a coalition of Arab and Moslem nations, plus China (which wants to protect its business interests in Sudan), block any too aggressive operations by the UN.
April 6, 2006: The government agreed to allow the World Bank to monitor spending, in order to get more loans from the World Bank. Chad also wants to get access to a "savings account" fund, where some of the oil revenue is placed for future economic development. The World Bank fears that, based on past performance, government officials will steal, or squander, most of the oil income. This will probably happen despite the best efforts of the World Bank. Chad president Deby is under attack by rebels, and getting his hands on all the oil money is a matter of life and death for him.
April 2, 2006: Not only are the raids by Sudanese irregulars into Chad continuing, but the Sudanese government denies that it supports the raids, or that the raiders are Sudanese. That means the Sudanese government does nothing to restrain the Sudanese Arab gunmen it supports with money and weapons. The raiders originally crossed the border to attack Sudanese refugees, but have taken to hitting Chad villages as well.
