Chad: The War Spreads

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November17, 2006: The government has declared a state of emergency, as rebels along the Sudan border continue to threaten an advance on the capital. The government is calling for help from the UN, and accusing the government of Sudan of taking its ethnic cleansing campaign from Darfur into Chad. The Sudanese government has backed Arab tribes against black African ones, in a battle for scarce water resources. Chad also has its competing Arab and African tribes, and Sudan is supporting the Chad Arab tribes with guns and other supplies.

November 16, 2006: The government is sending troops to the neighboring Central African Republic (CAR), to help fight rebels there. There are already a hundred Chad troops in CAR, as part of a peacekeeping force. The president of Chad, Idriss Deby, helped put the current ruler of the CAR into power three years ago, and fears that Sudan is behind the current CAR rebellion, and is trying to put a pro-Sudan, andi-Deby ruler into power.

November 15, 2006: The growing violence, and number of refugees, in eastern Chad, has caused a water shortage. Relief groups are cutting water supplies (four gallons a day per person) for refugees.