African Arguments

Top Menu

  • About Us
    • Our philosophy
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Climate
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • Think African [Podcast]
    • #EndSARS
    • Into Africa [Podcast]
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Africa Science Focus [Podcast]
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Debating Ideas
  • About Us
    • Our philosophy
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

logo

African Arguments

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Climate
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • Think African [Podcast]
    • #EndSARS
    • Into Africa [Podcast]
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Africa Science Focus [Podcast]
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Debating Ideas
Politics
Home›African Arguments›Politics›Chad and Sudan: Is the Proxy War Over?

Chad and Sudan: Is the Proxy War Over?

By Jane Smith
May 7, 2010
1906
0

When clashes broke out recently (24 April) between the Chadian army and a new rebel group the FPRN, led by Adam Yacoub (who broke from Timan Erdimi’s UFR coalition last year), it wasn’t long before some international observers were asking “Is this the end of the rapprochement between Chad and Sudan?” Independent confirmation of what happened has been difficult to come by, but it’s generally agreed the government’s figure of one hundred dead on the rebel side and nine government soldiers may not be too wide of the mark.

The significant point here is that these rebels were based inside Chad (in the area north of Tissi on the border with CAR), and as yet there has been none of Deby’s characteristic invective – calling them Sudanese mercenaries and Omar el-Bashir “˜le grande traitre’ (the Big Traitor). In fact on 30th April Deby issued a gushing statement congratulating Bashir on his election victory. However acute their disappointment with Erdimi, it seems at this point that the FPRN are just a small frustrated splinter group, not a new incarnation of Sudan’s proxy war in Chad.

This fits in with the narrative that January’s rapprochement between Chad and Sudan was genuine, and may well last. After all, as long term allies (Deby launched his takeover of Chad in 1990 from inside Darfur), it makes perfect sense for them to want to stabilise the situation. Neither of them is capable of fully controlling the desert border regions, as the Darfur conflict and displacements in eastern Chad have attested. After a surprisingly peaceful passing of April’s election, Bashir would be risking much by renewing his support to the Chadian rebels. Likewise, Deby’s message to JEM was unequivocal – after the January agreement he despatched a team to the area around the Oure Cassoni refugee camp near Bahai in the far north east, and told JEM to get out of Chadian territory. Although there are some Zaghawa in positions of power in N’Djamena who are unhappy at this new attitude to JEM, Deby has again demonstrated his talent for political survival.

But while the rebels seem hobbled, questions still remain about security, especially following Chad’s decision to not renew the mandate of Minurcat (UN mission to Chad and CAR). While many in the UN realised the mandate renewal discussions in March 2010 would not be easy, few foresaw Deby’s declaration while visiting Bashir in Khartoum that Minurcat had been a “˜failure’. He seems to believe that the disagreements between the Chadian government, NGOs and the UN over how to prevent attacks against humanitarian workers, which reached their highest level in late 2009 (two people were killed and four taken hostage), were damaging Chad’s image; and that rapprochement with Sudan was the perfect opportunity to take matters into his own hands.

At the time of writing it looks as if the new head of Minurcat, Moroccan Yusuf Mahmoud, has found a short-term compromise which will see about two thousand troops staying for the next few months, with a view to increasing the number of civilian gendarmes (Detachement Integree de Security DIS). It’s hoped that will provide some security for the quarter of a million refugees and 150,000 displaced Chadians in the east, until Chad and Sudan’s joint border force (brought to life in January’s agreement) is fully operational. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the security situation in the east has improved over the last few months.

In February 2008, Deby was just hours from being chased from the Presidential Palace, but he has staged an astonishing comeback, using oil revenues to bolster his national army who all but destroyed the rebels. At the same time Bashir has been squeezed by his need for a peaceful election and referendum on the south’s independence. Despite the many false starts, there is reason to be optimistic that the proxy war between Chad and Sudan may well be over.

Jane Smith is a journalist who worked in Chad for 18 months.

Previous Article

Saving Sudan: Reflections on the Election

Next Article

What We Don’t See in Sudan

Jane Smith

Leave a reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Politics

    Sudan and the ‘Island of Stability’ myth – By Ahmed Kodouda

  • South Africa protest: A protest in Colenso earlier this month. Credit: Michaela Steele.
    SocietySouth Africa

    South Africa’s held my mum in jail for 60 days. Her crime? Peaceful protest.

  • Will President Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana be re-elected tomorrow? Credit: UNCTAD/Violaine Martin.
    Africa InsidersBotswana

    Africa Insiders: Botswana Election Watch briefing

Subscribe to our newsletter

Click here to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and never miss a thing!

  • 81.7K+
    Followers

Find us on Facebook

Interactive Elections Map

Keep up to date with all the African elections.

Recent Posts

  • Afrobeats: The birth of Afro-Adura
  • Sudan: How the generals disappeared the people on the way to the economy
  • Is a Peaceful Somalia Possible? Alternatives to Total War on Al-Shabaab
  • “Economic bondage”: E Africa farmers worry over what GMOs might mean
  • The unexpected success of Somalia’s new fight against Al Shabaab

Editor’s Picks

ClimateEditor's PicksEgypt

2022 is Africa’s year to lead the world on climate change

The COP27 climate summit on African soil will be the continent’s chance to put the needs of vulnerable nations above the interests of rich countries. Nowhere experiences the bitter injustice ...
  • People gather for an open air film screening in Khartoum, Sudan.

    Charlie Chaplin and the reclaiming of Sudan

    By Samira Sawlani
    November 5, 2019
  • Those who migrate (or Japa) in Nigeria often keep plans secret until they are complete.

    Why are Nigerians keeping migration plans secret from their friends?

    By Kingsley Charles
    November 8, 2022
  • A woman and child walk past barbed wire in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Credit: Eduardo Fonseca Arraes.

    How Sierra Leone abolished the death penalty and what others could learn

    By Makmid Kamara & Sabrina Mahtani
    November 2, 2021
  • The World Bank recently held its 2023 Spring Meetings, in which climate change was high on the agenda. Credit: Photo: World Bank / Simone D. McCourtie.

    Is the World Bank really going green?

    By Heike Mainhardt
    April 25, 2023

Brought to you by


Creative Commons

Creative Commons Licence
Articles on African Arguments are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
  • Cookies
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
© Copyright African Arguments 2020
By continuing to browse this site, you agree to our use of cookies.