Unless the Chad government includes rebels in reconciliation talks, the country will continue to face security threats and political crises, says the International Crisis Group (ICG) in its 25 September report.

A permanent ceasefire has eluded the violence-wracked country even after numerous rounds of government-rebel peace negotiations since conflict surged again in December 2005.

The report calls for better distribution of oil money, radical government reform and revived talks between Chad and Sudan to end their support of each other's rebel groups.

ICG describes the August 2007 EU-brokered peace deal as flawed, in that it tried to build democracy through elections without helping to create the necessary conditions for successful elections.

"The Chadian crisis goes way beyond what [the] August 13 [agreement] can achieve," the ICG's deputy director for Africa, Daniela Kroslak told IRIN. "We have to look at…decentralising the state authority, and security sector and judicial reforms – all of which are components without which democracy cannot thrive."

Inclusive approach

More people need to be consulted to create a thus-far elusive democracy, says Judith Enriquez-Sarano with the non-profit Oxfam, based in Abeche in eastern Chad.

"It is essential that all stakeholders are involved in this political process – this includes Islamic groups, clan leaders, women, parties to the armed conflict, and non-governmental organisations," she told IRIN.

While ICG calls for African Union mediation, Enriquez-Sarano says there is no peace without EU backing. "Without this political support, the violence will only continue."

Insecurity spiralling

Over the past year, insecurity has spiralled in eastern Chad, according to NGOs and UN agencies working there. "The security situation in Chad has developed from worrying to lethal in 2006 and has continued at a similar pace during 2007 and 2008," stated a May 2008 UNHCR security briefing note.

Despite the deployment of the UN policing force MINURCAT [UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad], and EUFOR [European stabilisation mission] troops in September 2007 and February 2008, respectively, about half a million people are still exposed daily to attacks, theft, rape, and forced recruitment to fight, according to Oxfam.

At risk are the estimated 250,000 refugees and 170,000 internally displaced people who are living in camps along Chad's eastern border.

MINURCAT has trained less than half of the 800 Chadian military police it set out to train; as a military, rather than a police force, EUFOR troops are ill-suited to fight widespread banditry and criminality in the east, says Oxfam.

"Despite these troops, the east remains a largely lawless environment,” says Enriquez-Sarano.

Setting up an enforceable and fair justice system in Chad is critical, according to ICG’s Kroslak, but it will only work if Chad's highest-ranking support it.

"The problem with MINURCAT and EUFOR is that they are a technical approach to a political issue. These are political issues, which require support from President [Idriss] Deby himself."

Kroslak says disgruntled power-grabbers will strike again. "It is in President Deby's interests, given [that] he's survived two coup attempts in the past two years…the rebels will not give up."

Sudan troubles

While the ICG report stresses Chad's problems are internal and not simply a spill-over from neighbouring Sudan, it calls on the UN Security Council, in negotiation with the African Union (AU), to appoint a respected AU mediator to renew peace talks in Chad.

For several years, the governments of Chad and Sudan have been accusing each other of supporting rebels in attacks against one another. 

ICG recommends regional actors such as Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade to guide Chad and Sudan towards peaceful resolution.

President Wade helped negotiate the Dakar accord in August 2006, which aimed to end fighting between the governments of Chad, Sudan and rebel groups on both sides. The deal fell apart, as did another attempt in March 2008.

Since then, attacks in eastern Chad have killed more than 150 people, according to the Chadian military. Though peace deals have not held, Kroslak says Senegal is still a valuable go-between. "Senegal is seen to be an impartial actor that is willing enough to invest [in the process]…this should help move the process forward."

“The two leaders are now stuck in a merry-go-round of affirmation followed by accusations of support for each other’s rebel groups,” Kroslak told IRIN. “This [pattern] will not solve the crisis; it just glosses over the deeper issues. If regional actors do not help leaders find an inclusive solution to the Chad-Sudan crisis soon, then the danger of another attack in eastern Chad – even in N’djamena – is very real.”

IRIN 

Two Malian soldiers captured by the Alliance des Touaregs du Nord Mali pour le changement (ATNMC), led by Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, were handed over to the Malian authorities in Kidal by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on 25 August.

The two soldiers were in need of medical treatment and were released on humanitarian grounds. They were handed over to an ICRC team, which had acted as a neutral intermediary to facilitate their release.

The ICRC is a neutral and independent humanitarian organization, which has a mandate to protect and assist the victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence. The organization makes periodic visits to people held in connection with the situation in northern Mali.

The organization was recently able to visit Malian soldiers who were being held prisoner, along with three gendarmes captured last July in Tessalit. The ICRC has also been able to visit people held by the Malian authorities. Through its visits, the ICRC endeavours to verify the conditions under which these people are being held and their state of health. The organization also facilitates contact between prisoners and their families.

The ICRC is responding to the humanitarian needs in this part of northern Mali. With the support of the Mali Red Cross, the organization has just finished distributing food and non-food aid to 880 families of displaced persons and returnees in the Kidal region.

The ICRC has been in Mali since 1991. It has offices in Bamako and Gao, where it works closely with the Mali Red Cross.

International Committee of the Red Cross 

Impoverished victims of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and former rebels being reintegrated into the community in northern Uganda need urgent support as the region recovers from more than two decades of conflict, an official of the European Union (EU) has said.

On a visit to the northern town of Gulu on 22 July, Vincent de Visscher, head of the EU delegation to Uganda, said the reintegration of former LRA combatants was being hindered by the high level of poverty and called for more donor support.

On the resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Acholi sub-region, De Visscher said some progress had been made but health services, schools and clean water were still needed, as was opening up roads to villages where people were settling.

Tackling these issues would help reduce the level of poverty and normalise life in the affected communities, he added.

In response to De Visscher's concerns, legislators and local leaders from northern Uganda said they would soon table a bill in the Ugandan parliament which, if passed, would see all victims of the LRA conflict compensated.

"People in northern Uganda with severed body parts and those directly affected by the conflict should be compensated so that they live a meaningful life," Okello Okello, chairman of the Acholi Parliamentary Group, said.

At least 1,500 people have been registered by the northern Uganda presidential adviser, Richard Todwong, from the Acholi sub-region with disabilities arising from the conflict.
Some of the victims who talked to IRIN at Awer IDP camp on 21 July complained of difficulties earning a living because they were unable to work in their fields due to disability.

De Visscher also launched a 500 million shilling (US$315,000) conflict resolution programme for northern Uganda, aimed at fostering dialogue among communities in the district as well as those neighbouring northern Uganda who have also been affected by the conflict.

The programme will help reconcile the communities and support traditional mechanisms of justice as well as the reintegration of ex-LRA combatants.

"We are all committed to work so that we can have a healing process for the victims of the conflict and restore hope to the people," Norbert Mao, the Gulu district chairman, said. "This is the only way to pacify this region and avoid future conflict."

IRIN 

The eight MFDC rebels from the Senegalese southern region of Casamance who were recently convicted and sentenced by the Banjul Magistrates’ court have filed an appeal against their conviction before Justice Naceesay Salla-Wadda of the Banjul High Court.

Sidat Jarju, Nuha Jammeh, Lamin Teww Sambou, Ansumana Jarju, Tamsir Badjie, Joseph Jatta,Abdou Salam Jammeh and Wuye Jarju were convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from one year to four years by the Banjul Magistrates’ court.

State counsel, Baba Bojang, told the court that the applicants were tried together at the magistrates’ court, convicted and sentenced. He said it is their constitutional right to appeal and apply to consolidate the appeal since it was on the same facts and subject matter.

The application was accepted by the court and the appeal was later consolidated .The court also ordered the acting principal registrar of the high court to provide the court with a Jola interpreter whenever the case comes up. The court also ordered the assistant registrar of the Banjul Magistrates’ Court to make available the records of proceedings to the court.

It will be recalled that the nine MFDC rebels were tried in The Gambia on charges of terrorism, spying, receiving stolen property and unlawful possession of Gambian National Identity Cards amongst other things.

Then she heard that the elusive Kony had failed to show up at a much-publicised signing ceremony due in Ri-Kwangba, near the border between Southern Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

"We all waited anxiously and hopefully that at last Kony will sign, but what came out gives me a lot of fear," she told IRIN from Unyama near Gulu.

Violence, she added, could resume in northern Uganda, where thousands have been killed, almost two million displaced from their homes and an estimated 25,000 children abducted in more than two decades of war between government troops and the rebels.

Ugandan officials, diplomats, observers and reporters spent a day in the bush waiting for Kony, only to be told the rebel leader wanted some more clarifications before he could sign.

"He said he is still committed to the peace process," the talks’ mediator and Southern Sudan Vice-President Riek Machar told reporters in the capital, Juba. Machar had spent some time trying to contact Kony, but failed.

In the Ugandan capital, Kampala, the head of the government delegation tried to put a positive spin on the latest setback in talks that have lasted two years and cost millions of dollars.

"Government is committed to a negotiated settlement of the conflict and continued peace in northern Uganda," Ruhakana Rugunda, who is also Internal Affairs Minister, told IRIN. "Kony should come and take advantage of this gesture."

The government, he added, was waiting for a report from the mediators, who were still trying to establish contact with Kony before deciding the way forward.

But days earlier, President Yoweri Museveni had hinted that his military could resume hostilities against the LRA. "Kony is the one now to blame for the failure to end hostilities as scheduled; he has once again told the whole world that he is not interested in peace," he said on a visit to Juba on 14 April.

ICC charges

Diplomats in Juba say Kony is scared he will be arrested and handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) where he would face charges of crimes against humanity, rape and war crimes. "He wants reassurances that he would be safe," one diplomat said.

The court prepared indictments in 2005 against five LRA leaders, at the request of the Ugandan government. However, the government has since backtracked, saying the rebel leaders can be subjected to traditional justice instead. The ICC insists the charges stand.

"We can save him because we are the ones who sought assistance from the ICC," Museveni told reporters in London recently. "Because he was not under our jurisdiction, we sought assistance from the ICC. If he signs the peace agreement and returns to our jurisdiction, it becomes our responsibility, not any other party's, including the ICC."

Locals in northern Uganda, who have enjoyed relative peace since the talks began, say they would forgive the rebel leader. They largely believe the ICC indictments should be lifted so he can come home.

"The ICC was the impediment to the final agreement," Odoki Lamaka, commandant of Unyama camp for internally displaced persons in Gulu, said. "It is now the ICC that is between us and peace."

Herron Okello agreed: "We have been ready and we are still ready to forgive any wrongdoing against us but it seems the ICC is spoiling the party. We hear that Kony refused to sign because he fears the ICC."

Relative peace?

Humanitarian workers hope the situation in northern Uganda continues to be relatively peaceful. "The failure to sign the agreement has had no immediate negative impact on what we are doing. We hope that this continues because it is good for the people of northern Uganda," Kirsten Knutson, public information officer for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs (OCHA) in Kampala, said.

"The LRA has not been active in the region and we do not have any indication of a situation that could force us to prepare for the worst-case scenario," she added.

In a March situation report, however, OCHA noted incidents during the movement of LRA men from the DRC to the Central African Republic (CAR). The first was a raid on the village of Ezo between the DRC, CAR and Sudan on 16-17 March, in which the rebels reportedly abducted 20 people. The second involved looting at Nabiapai, 21km south of Yambio, on 22 March.

On 15 April, Machar told reporters the rebels had kidnapped 55 children in Southern Sudan in recent weeks. “I have reports that these youths have been abducted by the LRA. Why do they continue to do this and say they are still committed to the peace process?"

Aid workers say they have reports indicating the rebels are still active in parts of DRC, where they abducted 200 people last month. Overall, however, the Juba talks have contributed to marked improvements in security and significant returns by camp-based communities to their original homesteads within Acholi and Lango sub-region.

Studies conducted in Gulu, Kitgum and Pader – which, during the height of the insurgency, would witness tens of thousands of children walking into towns each night due to insecurity in outlying areas – indicate significantly fewer numbers of children coming to seek shelter in towns, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

OCHA's report noted that the last remaining camp for displaced people in Lango sub region – Olilim in Lira district – was officially de-gazetted in March, although several thousand people remain in former camps. In Gulu district, only 10 out of 64 schools has yet to return to their original sites while 33 out of 53 in neighbouring Amuru have returned.

A study carried out in 20 camps, however, indicated that 79 percent of displaced people still see security concerns as a constraint on their return home. The signing of a peace deal was cited by 46 percent while 30 percent were awaiting a government directive to go home.

"The people are going on with their work despite the disappointment," said Lamaka, referring to displaced civilians who have gone back to prepare their gardens now that the rainy season has begun.

Analysts say Kony is militarily weakened and is unlikely to again pose significant threat to peace in northern Uganda. "Unless he gets fresh support from somewhere, which is not very likely at the moment, he is too far from Uganda and military weak," a Kampala analyst said. "His best hope is to sign the accord and come out alive."

The rations, which benefited 2.4 million people in March, will be halved per person per day from May, WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon said on 17 April.

So far this year, 60 WFP-contracted trucks have been hijacked in Darfur, of which 39 are still missing. Twenty six drivers remain unaccounted for, while one was killed last month.

As result, food deliveries have dropped to 900 tonnes per day from 1,800 tonnes a year ago.

"Attacks on the WFP food pipeline are an attack on the most vulnerable people in Darfur," Josette Sheeran, WFP Executive Director, said in a statement on 17 April.

"With up to three million people depending on us for their survival in the upcoming rainy season, keeping WFP's supply line open is a matter of life and death," she added. "We call on all parties to protect the access to food."

WFP appealed to rebel factions in Darfur to ensure security on the roads and to respect the neutrality of humanitarian workers.

"If the security situation on the roads improves, we will be able to restore the ration levels," said Kenro Oshidari, WFP Representative in Sudan.

The announcement followed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's latest report on Darfur, in which he said prospects for a negotiated political solution to the crisis had become remote.

Both the Sudanese government and rebels appear determined to pursue a military solution, while the international community had failed to supply helicopters and other logistics to the under-staffed African Union-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).

"I am extremely disappointed in the lack of progress on all fronts," the Secretary-General said in the report, which covers UNAMID’s operations for three months.

"The parties appear determined to pursue a military solution, the political process stalled, the deployment of UNAMID is progressing very slowly and continues to face many challenges, and the humanitarian situation is not improving."

He described as grave the implications of the current security situation for Darfurians. Attacks on food convoys and general violence were hindering aid provision, while sexual and gender-based violence in and around camps for internally displaced persons was high.

UNAMID was set up in 2007 with a projected strength of 26,000 military and police personnel, but it has only 10,600 in the field, including 1,400 civilians.

Aid agencies estimate that 200,000 people have died since conflict erupted in Darfur in 2003, while 4.5 million have been directly affected.