The violent political scenario in the impoverished oil-rich African country of Chad is the result of another, yet common world neglect. Chadians have hardly experienced a period of calm and peace since their independence from the French. According to leading African analysts the crisis in Chad was the first new political crisis to develop in Africa since the G8’s ‘year of Africa’ in 2005.
Over the last few years Chad has found itself into the world limelight due to another broader and more catastrophic conflict that is raging in its eastern borders, in Darfur. Due to rich reserves of oil, Chad has been involved in a civil war being fought largely for the control of the oil wealth leading to widespread devastation. Many peace deals were initiated and promised before, largely with the help of Libya, but all failed to bring peace.
So the Chadians are not giving enough importance to this new deal, again brokered by the Lybian premier, Col.Gaddafi. Most Chadians do not believe in Gaddafi and their own president Idriss Deby, who was brought to power by the Libyan leader in 1990. It is a known fact that Col. Gaddafi, over the years, has an attraction towards Chad’s vast oil wealth and he is widely blamed for the country’s vast problems. Now the question is why a man, widely disliked in Chad, is trying to bring peace in that particular country?
The Libyan leader, with a direction from the EU and the UN, is trying to pave the way for the arrival of a peacekeeping force in Chad’s eastern part which would act as the initial part for a broader mission in neighboring Darfur. 4,000-strong EU peacekeeping force with a strict mandate is set to arrive in the country in next few weeks and so there is a necessity for a peace deal to avoid any unforeseen circumstances.
The Chadians, however, suspect Gaddafi of playing his cards to influence N’Djamena’s domestic and foreign policies. According to local speculations, the four rebel groups, with whom the peace deal is signed, are hand picked by Libya, Sudan and president Deby, leaving aside other influential rebel groups, thus making the peace deal a fragile one. There is a wide spread belief that Chad’s oil wealth is being sucked out by Arabs from the hands of the non-Arabs.
Link: BBC
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