Chad's unhelpful role in the CAR

With the build-up of sectarian conflict, scores of people killed, women raped, properties burned, villages destroyed, religious leaders calling for a holy war - the Central African Republic (CAR) crisis is feared to be entering into a Rwandan-like genocide.

The urge to avoid the complete descent into genocide has prompted the African Union and the UN to mobilise troops from African countries for peacekeeping purposes.

However, this effort is being fast compromised by the subversive activities of the Chadian army in its role as both peacekeeper and party to the conflict. Read full article on Africa Review

Chad's Idriss Deby: A Hero turned Tyrant?

This month Chad’s President Idriss Deby will mark his 23-year rule in the landlocked West African country. In the 1990 coup that toppled the former President Hissein Habre, President Deby was welcomed by the Chadians as a national hero after he delivered a powerful populist speech promising to bring “neither gold nor silver but freedom and democracy.”

Two decades later, the much anticipated freedom and democracy is yet to materialise. The irony is that the long awaited promise of democracy has metamorphosed into a costly dictatorship that has cost thousands of lives and stifled progress. Read full article on Africa Review