Over 60 members of a Chadian sect have been killed in fighting with police that started after the group's leader announced his wish to start a holy war. The government security minister, Mahamat Bachir, said that the death toll is "a regrettable toll, but we think we now control the situation caused by the actions carried out by these terrorists, these extremists."

Ahmat Ismael Bichara, who led the sect and claimed to follow the religion of Islam, ordered his followers to attack villagers as part of the start of a holy war. As a result of this, he was arrested.

Members of the security forces were also wounded in the attack. There were ten injuries, four of which resulted in fatalities. In addition to the deaths from the sect, over 50 members of the group were also injured.

Government officials also claimed that the sect wanted the war to spread as far as Europe. "Since June 3, he [the leader of the group] has been calling on all Muslims to prepare to engage in a holy war against Christians and atheists, saying that the war would be launched from Chad to as far as Denmark," said the offical.

Major General Lang Tombong Tamba, the chief of defence staff of The Gambia Armed Forces yesterday decorated 58 GAF junior officers to various ranks in accordance with Section 190 of the Constitution of The Gambia.

22 officers were promoted to captain, 43 to lieutenant and 14 to second lieutenant, which is the largest promotions in the history of the Gambia Armed Forces.

Soon after the decoration ceremony, CDS Tamba told the newly promoted officiers that their promotion as well as the promotion of the non-commissioned officers is the largest in the history of The Gambia Armed Forces. According to CDS Tamba the elevation of the officers clearly manifests the importance President Jammeh, who is also the Commander-In-Chief of The Gambia Armed Forces, and his government attaches to The Gambia Armed Forces.

According to him the decoration will subject the promoted officers to serious challenges and dedication to duty. He reminded promoted officers of selfless service, dedication to duty and unflinching loyalty as one of the fundamental attributes of an officer.

He said “the foundation upon which any strong military is built, is based on loyalty, dedication and obedience to lawful commands. Therefore, the progress of any officer is thus, dependent on his or her output, dedication and loyalty” he said and quickly reminded them that “From those to whom much is given, much is expected”.

Commission officers

To the new commissioned officers, Major General Tamba urged them to discharge their duties with diligence and respect and put the nation first at all times, as well as the welfare of the troops they command. He further advised them to always bear in mind that their military careers have now been transformed from non-commissioned to officers corps. He also advised them to change their behaviours, their way of thinking, physically, spiritually and socially, in order to gain the decent attribute of a lady/gentleman officer.

Honourable Fatoumatta Jahumpa-Ceesay, the Speaker of the National Asembly, Secretaries of State, the head of the Pakistan military team, the deputy CDS, families and relatives of the newly decorated officers and the head of the British diplomatic corps graced the ocasion.

Captain Sait Njie, a newly promoted officer delivered the vote of thanks.

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."

Another 200 people were reportedly wounded in the clashes, which started on 19 April, hospital sources said.

"What we have seen on Saturday and Sunday was the worst fighting ever,” said Asha Shaur, a civil society spokeswoman. “It was the most intense and destructive the city has experienced.”

The fighting was mostly concentrated in the districts of Wardhigley in the south, Heliwa, Wahara Ade and Yaqshid (both in north Mogadishu), according to a local journalist.

It started when Ethiopian troops moved from their base at a former pasta factory in Yaqshid and tried to enter areas not previously under their control, said the journalist.

“That is when the insurgents and the Ethiopians clashed, and it has continued for two days non-stop,” he said.

The escalation in the fighting comes as the worst drought in more than a decade grips most of the country. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs-Somalia, said 2.5 million Somalis were in urgent need of assistance. "If things do not improve within the coming weeks, and it is not likely, then we will be confronted with the images of 1991-1992", when drought and civil strife claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Somalis, leading to the deployment of American troops in Operation Restore Hope.

He added: "We are talking about saving lives not alleviating suffering."

Civilians trapped

Shaur appealed to both sides of the conflict to spare the civilian population. “The indiscriminate use of heavy weapons in populated areas has one aim only - to kill as many people as possible, whether armed or unarmed,” she said.

Many of the newly displaced were “more often than not” people who had returned from camps ahead of the expected rainy season. “They wanted to shelter in their homes before the rains. Now some of them are dead and others are injured,” said Shaur, who was speaking from Dayniile hospital, where some of the injured were taken.

Medical sources told IRIN that hospitals had been overwhelmed by the number of injured people seeking treatment since fighting started on 19 April.

A medical source said that more than 100 people had been killed and another 200 taken to hospital with serious injuries.

"These are the ones who made it into Madina [in the south], Keysaney [in the north] and Dayniile [northwest] hospitals in the city," he said.

But these numbers reflected only those who made it to hospitals. “We are getting reports of the injured who are trapped in their neighbourhoods, with dead bodies lying in the streets,” he said.

He said most of those brought to hospitals were women and children. "In Madina hospital an eight-month-old baby died of shrapnel wounds," he added.

The journalist told IRIN that it was still very dangerous to venture out in the conflict areas. “Many people are looking at the bodies of their relatives or friends but cannot bury them.

“The real number of dead and injured may not be known for days,” he added. The fighting is reported to have subsided on 21 April, but the city remains tense, according to the journalist.

Government officials were not available for comment.

The training of 77 national police commanders for a special force to provide security in refugee camps, sites for displaced Chadians and towns in eastern Chad, is set to start on 14 April, according to a spokesman for the UN Mission in Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT).

The commanders of the force, known as the DIS [Détachement intégré de sécurité], were initiated in a ceremony on 9 April at the Academy of the Gendarmerie in Chad’s capital N’djamena. MINURCAT said in a statement that its mandate is to “select, train, advise and provide support to elements of the Chadian police and gendarmerie who will be part of the DIS”.

The training of the commanders was delayed by fighting in February between rebels and the army in N’djamena, according to the UN Secretary General’s report of 1 April.

“A total of 850 officers will eventually make up the DIS,” MINURCT spokesman Penangnini Toure told IRIN on 10 April. The training of the first batch of 220 officers is to commence upon completion of the training of the commanders. Neither MUNICART nor the Secretary General’s report offered a date for when that might be.

MUNICART, which is mostly mandated to train and monitor national security forces, is operating along side EUFOR, the European Union military force for Chad and Central African Republic, which deployed on 28 January and currently has a troop strength in Chad of approximately 1,750 personnel, the 1 April report said.

EUFOR is set to build to around 3,700 troops. It is expected to be fully deployed before the rainy season starts in June and will provide security for the five MINURCAT police stations envisaged for Goz Beida, Farchana, Guéréda, Iriba, and Bahai in eastern Chad and the area of Birao in the Central African Republic, the report said.

An attack on government troops early on 1 April at the town of Ade in eastern Chad on the border with Sudan is the first serious attempt by the rebels to challenge government forces since February when the rebels got as far as the capital N’djamena before withdrawing.

“The attack today [1 April] could just be a single event but we fear that it is the beginning of a much larger offensive,” according to a diplomat in N’djamena who wished to remain anonymous.

Dozens of government troops and many civilians were injured in the fighting which ended around midday, according to a source in Ade.

Information on the number of rebel causalities was unavailable, nor was it clear whether the rebels had retreated into Sudan or moved southeast in the direction of the Chadian village of Modoyna which is near the border.

Sources in Ade confirmed that the attackers were part of the rebel National Alliance (NA), which consists of at least three rebel groups headed by Mahamat Nouri a former Chadian general who led the attack on Ndjamena in February.

“What the rebels do next is anyone’s guess,” said the diplomat. “Maybe they just wanted to rattle their sabers and that will be it or maybe this attack was a decoy for larger rebel attacks that could soon take place elsewhere along the border and we are about to witness something big.”

“The important thing is that everyone is preparing for any eventuality,” he added, referring to the evacuation from N’djamena of diplomats, international aid workers and tens of thousands of civilians during the February rebel offensive.

The Chadian ministry of defense issued a statement saying that Sudan is behind the latest attack and calling the rebels “mercenaries” of Sudan’s government. It said that Sudan had violated various accords with Chad notably the one signed on 13 Match in Dakar, in front of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other world leaders.

A Sudanese military spokesman told Reuters in Khartoum: “Sudan's armed forces had no hand in what is happening in Chad - this is an internal matter."

Source: IRIN

Comoros, backed by African Union forces, has invaded the island of Anjouan in an effort to topple the rebel leadership of Mohamed Bacar, who has been seeking independence from Comoros.

Around 450 troops disembarked on Monday, landing in the capital of Mutsamudu on Tuesday at dawn, where a jubilant crowd cheered for them. They joined the nearly 1,500 African Union forces from Sudan and Tanzania, with Libya, France, and the United States providing logistical support for the operation.
The Comoros government says they have already captured most of the island. "The operation started in the early morning hours and it is going smoothly and according to plan," said Abdourahim Said Bakar, a government spokesman. "The military has taken control over most of the island - the airport and Anjouan's capital, Mutsamudu."

There have been no official reports of casualties, but two African Union soldiers appear to have suffered minor injuries, and one reporter saw an elderly man being carried away after apparently being hit by a stray bullet. Sounds of machine guns and heavy artillery could be heard throughout the island.
Mohamed Bacar seized control of Anjouan in a 2001 military coup. After his term expired in 2007, he held his own elections in which he declared himself the winner. This election was viewed as illegal by Comoros and the African Union.

"We hope that by the end of the day we will have the problem resolved," the government spokesman said. "A special group has been selected to capture Bacar, arrest him and bring him to court. He has to pay for his crimes."
The spokesman also outlined his priorities for Anjouan once the island is stabilized, which included holding elections within three months, disarming Bacar's miltias, and putting Bacar on trial for corruption and human rights abuses once he is found.
The troops met some resistance from supporters of Mohamed Bacar, armed with assault rifles and rocket launchers and numbering around 400. Some loyalists gathered near Bacar's residence in Barakani, but the military soon took control of the area. The residence was searched, but Bacar was nowhere to be found.

The Bacar loyalists have reportedly begun using guerrilla tactics against the invading forces. "I have over a hundred men and we will fight until we die," said Lieutenant Ibrahim Moussa of the loyalists. "It's God's will that will decide who is to win and who is to die. The invaders won't make it through."
Though one Comoros soldier reports that three of Bacar's highest-ranking supporters have been arrested, Bacar himself remains at large. The government spokesman says he has been seen fleeing to the island of Mayotte by canoe.

"Colonel Mohamed Bacar has been spotted in the village of Sadanpoini where he is heading without doubt for a place to flee on board a kwassa (small canoe) towards Mayotte Island," Abdourahim Said Bacar said. "It seems, according to various sources, that he is dressed as a woman," he added.
However, this information has not been confirmed. "The Comoran command will not confirm any information regarding the arrest of Colonel Bacar," said reporter Franck Berruyer.

In a nationally televised address, Comoros president Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi said he had approved of the military operation. "I have ordered the Comoran army and the the forces of our country's friends to bring Anjouan back under the rule of law and free her citizens," he said.
Meanwhile, South African president Thabo Mbeki denounced the operation. "It takes Comoros back to the use of force to solve a problem that could have been resolved with negotiations," he said in a televised statement. "There was no need to deploy troops."

Comoros took control of its rebel island of Anjouan on Tuesday in a military operation aimed at toppling renegade leader, Mohamed Bacar, a government official said.

"The operation started in the early morning hours and it is going smoothly and according to plan," Abdourahim Said Bakar, a spokesman for the Union government told IRIN. "The military has taken control over most of the island - the airport and Anjouan's capital, Mutsamudu."

The Comoros government, supported by a coalition force of troops from Tanzania, Sudan and Senegal, with logistical support from Libya, launched the seaborne assault on 25 March to end the rule of rebel leader Mohamed Bacar, who came to power through a coup in 2001.

The military was still facing some resistance close to Bacar's home early on Monday, and the whereabouts of the former gendarme colonel was unknown, the spokesman said. "We hope that by the end of the day we will have the problem resolved … A special group has been selected to capture Bacar, arrest him and bring him to court. He has to pay for his crimes."

All phone lines to Anjouan have been cut for several weeks, but international news agencies reported blasts and machine gun fire on the island.

The political crisis on the Indian Ocean archipelago has been simmering since June 2007, when African Union (AU)-monitored polls were held on all three islands – Anjouan, Grand Comore and Moheli.

The Union government backed by the AU postponed the poll on Anjouan, citing irregularities and intimidation in the run-up to voting, but Bacar printed his own ballot papers, held an election and claimed a landslide victory.

Neither Bacar nor the Comoros Union government, which is demanding a fresh poll, was prepared to compromise. Efforts by the AU to negotiate a deal had failed to break the deadlock, as had sanctions targeting the freedoms and financial assets of Anjouan's leadership.

In February a frustrated AU Peace and Security Council revised its stance on the political conflict and moved to backing the Union government's position of using military force. Coalition forces then began gathering on Moheli, the island closest to Anjouan.

Minimise casualties

A day before the assault, helicopters dropped leaflets on Anjouan warning that the operation was imminent and urging the population to stay at home. The small island is home to 300,000 people out of the 700,000 that inhabit the archipelago, which lies off the east African coast.

The spokesman said there were no reports of casualties so far. "Certainly there will be some victims but we think that we can reduce the number to a minimum. Our leaflet warning has worked very well and we believe that civilians will not be hit by our operation," he said.

Bacar is thought to lead a well-armed force of about 500 gendarmes and it was widely accepted that any military solution to the stalemate would require outside assistance.

"The illegal Anjouan authorities are better prepared and equipped militarily. It should be recalled that twice [1997 and 2007] the Union government have been beaten out of Anjouan," Chrysantus Ayangafac, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies' Direct Conflict Prevention Programme, told IRIN. And despite the Union governments advantage in numbers, "the illegal Anjouan authorities have the military advantage of knowing the terrain," Ayangafac added.

Deep-rooted problems

The political crisis on Anjouan marked a return to the political volatility that has been a hallmark of Comoros since the islands achieved independence from France in 1975. The archipelago has weathered about 20 successful and attempted coups to date.

The Union's complex electoral system gives the three islands a semi-autonomous government and president and the presidency of the over-arching Union government is rotated between the three islands.

The power sharing system was brokered in 2001 by the Organisation of African Unity, predecessor of the AU, in the wake of Moheli and Anjouan seceding from Grand Comore in 1997, when an attempt by the government to re-establish control over the rebellious islands by force failed.

The fragile system has been criticised for being far too expensive, and the question surrounding the allocation of power and resources between the different island governments has been a particularly contentious issue.

Given the complexities and history of the islands "any sustainable peace in Anjouan and in Comoros by extension is not a quick fix solution endangered by a military action," Ayangafac said. "While it is plausible that the AU and Union government might have a quick victory - the consequences of the military intervention might be catastrophic. Military action might further polarise the Anjouan society and make it extremely difficult to reign in."

"Anjouan is the epicentre of the Comorian economy. It is the richest of the federated islands and it's economy is the most vibrant," he explained. The island also has the countries only deepwater port, giving it control over Comoros’ international trade and customs revenue.

The UN Resident Coordinator in the Comoros, Opia Kumah, told IRIN he could not yet evaluate any potential damage caused by the operation, but said he had asked the UN for around $1 million in emergency aid for Anjouan.

"We have no access to Anjouan but this is what we think will be needed in such a small country," he said. As soon as Anjouan's airport was secure, a UN humanitarian team of around 5 to 6 people would be sent to the island.

"We will take care of food, communication, water, sanitation and all problems that may have hit the island," Kumah told IRIN.

He said that it was too early to talk about displacement. "As of now, the information we got from Anjouan is that people were staying indoors, as they were advised. I hope that it will stay so. Displacements if it happens might come later."

The corpse of a soldier from the European Union force recently deployed in Chad, whose vehicle strayed across the border into Sudan on 3 March, has been found.

“European authorities have informed the local EU Representative in Khartoum that remains discovered near the Chadian border are believed to be that of a French member of the European Peacekeeping Force who has been missing since 3 March,” according to a statement issued by European Force (EUFOR) spokesman in the Chadian capital N’djamena Lieutenant-colonel Patrick Poulain on 5 March.

He said EUFOR is currently making arrangements for the formal identification and recovery of the remains.

The soldier is believed to have been killed by Sudanese soldiers while conducting a patrol around the town of Tissi in the far south east corner of Chad where it borders Sudan and the Central African Republic.

Earlier the French Press Agency (AFP) quoted Sudanese authorities as saying that "white, non-African" forces twice crossed into Darfur on Monday, “sparking deadly exchanges of fire.”

A second French soldier was reportedly wounded but escaped back to Chad.

The head of EUFOR in Chad Lieutenant General Patrick Nash said in a statement on 4 March that he regretted the vehicle “unintentionally” crossing into Sudan.

One diplomat in N’djamena told IRIN that the incident could make some European countries more reluctant to sent troops.

“Some governments, Austria in particular, have already expressed concern about the mission and this incident could tip the balance,” said the diplomat, who did not want to be identified.

Some 14 European countries have agreed to contribute a total of 3,700 troops to the mission but it is dominated by France, Chad’s former colonial power which also has a military base in the country and a cooperation agreement with the government. That is one reason the rebels say they do not view EUFOR as being neutral

The EUFOR spokesman told IRIN that the killing would have no consequences for the further deployment of European forces in Chad, which began in February after delays partly caused by a rebel attack on Chad’s capital N’djamena.

“The first and most important consequence of this incident is that we have lost one of our men,” he said.