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/ 31 October 2007

Chad protesters: ‘No to child-trafficking’

Chadians chanting ”No to the slave trade, no to child-trafficking” protested on Wednesday against a French group accused of trying to illegally fly children from the the country to Europe. Several hundred angry locals gathered outside the governor’s office in the town of Abeche, where nine French nationals and seven Spaniards were arrested last week.

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/ 18 October 2007

Chadian rebels take American hostage

An American humanitarian worker participating in an aid project was captured by Tubu rebels in Tibesti, northern Chad, rebels said on Thursday. ”The Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT) has detained an American aid worker … in the area controlled by the MDJT,” according to a statement obtained from a branch of the armed rebel group.

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/ 16 October 2007

Chad orders state of emergency after clashes

Chad’s government on Tuesday slapped a state of emergency on three regions in the north and east of the Central African country after clashes between rival ethnic groups. The state of emergency was ordered for 12 days at a special Cabinet meeting, said a senior government official, who added that the aim was to allow the army to search and disarm insurgents.

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/ 15 October 2007

Ethnic clashes kill 20 in tense eastern Chad

Twenty people were killed in ethnic clashes in east Chad after the desertion of former rebels loyal to the defence minister stoked tensions in the region bordering Sudan’s Darfur, government sources said on Monday. The violence between the Tama and Zaghawa communities broke out after an armed group of Tama fighters abandoned the eastern town of Guereda last week.

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/ 12 October 2007

Former Chadian rebels march towards border

Former Chadian rebels waiting to join the national army have left their eastern bases to make for the Sudanese border, their former chief told international French radio station RFI. ”They are unhappy for several reasons … These are fairly complex problems, fairly serious. I understand them,” he said.

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/ 7 September 2007

Chad offers to help UN Darfur peace moves

Chad will back United Nations moves to end the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region by allowing international peacekeepers on its own soil and supporting peace talks, President Idriss Itno Déby said on Friday. Déby made the commitment to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who was in Chad on a regional tour to canvass support for the UN’s peacekeeping initiative for Darfur.

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/ 11 April 2007

Gadaffi sends peace envoy to Sudan, Chad

Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi sent an envoy to Sudan and Chad on Wednesday for talks aimed at easing tensions between the two countries after deadly border clashes. Abdel Salem Triki said he would deliver letters from Gadaffi calling on the leaders of the two countries to ”return to peace and dialogue”.

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/ 10 April 2007

Chad, Sudan trade accusations after clashes

Chad said it routed a major rebel attack launched from Sudan on Monday to destabilise its government, but Khartoum accused Chad’s army of killing 17 of its troops and threatened a strong response. The accusations marked a deterioration in the volatile relations between the two neighbours, marred by violence spilling across the frontier of Sudan’s Darfur region.

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/ 1 March 2007

Where once were elephants

Leaving the Chadian capital, Ndjamena, isn’t what it used to be. ”Thirty years ago, you’d still often come across herds of elephant crossing the highway at the southern exit of Ndjamena,” recalls Hassan Nago, a retired Agriculture Ministry official who lives in the village of Malo-Gaga, about 14km south-west of the capital.

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/ 1 February 2007

Chad rebels attack govt forces

Chadian rebels fighting to overthrow President Idriss Déby Itno on Thursday attacked the eastern border town of Adre on the main road route into Sudan’s Darfur region, the government and rebel spokespersons said. In recent months, several rebel groups have launched a spate of hit-and-run attacks against Chad government forces in the east.

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/ 26 December 2006

Threats remain after Chad peace deal

Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno and rebel leader Mahamat Nour Abdulkerim, once seen as a major threat to the government in N’Djamena, have signed a peace deal in Libya, a government source said on Monday. But the deal was not seen as the end of the threat to the rule of Déby from an array of rebel groups, as two of them forged an alliance.

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/ 19 December 2006

Chad says scores killed in militia attacks

Nearly 40 people were killed in clashes between Chad’s security forces and armed raiders who attacked two eastern villages, the government said on Tuesday. Communications Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said the villages were attacked at the weekend by ”Janjaweed”, the term usually used to designate Arab militia raiders who operate from Sudan’s Darfur region.

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/ 7 December 2006

Chad rebels continue hit-and-run campaign

Chadian rebels on Thursday entered the eastern town of Biltine in the latest move of their hit-and-run military campaign against President Idriss Déby, a rebel leader and government military sources said. They said a column of vehicles belonging to the rebels entered the town without encountering any serious resistance.

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/ 25 November 2006

Chadian rebels attack key town

Chadian rebels attacked the eastern regional capital of Abeche on Saturday in their latest strike against President Idriss Déby Itno’s rule, but government forces said they had withdrawn and surrounded the town. Chad’s chief of staff said in a statement it had pulled troops back from Abeche.

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/ 17 November 2006

Chad readies troops to help Central African Republic

Chad announced plans on Friday to send troops to help its southern neighbour Central African Republic and confront what it said was a widening regional war waged by Sudan from its violent Darfur region. The announcement signalled an escalation of the Darfur conflict, which has increasingly been spilling over Sudan’s western borders into Chad and the Central African Republic.

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/ 13 November 2006

Chad declares state of emergency

Chad’s government declared a state of emergency on Monday in the capital, Ndjamena, and some eastern areas, where raiders on horseback have killed hundreds of villagers in ethnic attacks in recent weeks. The measure included the appointment of special ministers with far-reaching powers for the affected regions.