War is brewing on the border between Sudan and Chad once again. You may recall my February blog when it appeared that the Chadian rebel coalition had managed to topple the president of Chad only to see Sudanese rebels cross the border to retake the capital and restore President Deby to power.We are seeing the same scenario played out all over again except this time the rebels have more vehicles - 700-800 reportedly - and more men - 7-8,000 again reportedly. Thus far, the rebels have managed to take a key town in south east Chad but they are still far from reaching the capital city which lies several hundred sandy miles to the west.
Hard to say what the Sudanese rebels will do in this situation. Fighting has flared up all around North Darfur in the past 10 days. Difficult to imagine these rebels leaving their current dug-in positions to run to fight a war in Chad, but I may be underestimating the resolve of these groups to fight.
In the meantime, we are all hoping that this renewed fighting will not mean more people being displaced from their homes. The rainy season is coming and this is the time when most will make a desperate attempt to return to their land if only to plant food for the coming season. Even those from burned out villages will leave the camps for a few weeks to till the soil and prepare their lands for a new harvest.
The arrival of the rainy is also the reason for the latest push to take power. Once the rains come to the desert, it will make movement very difficult in wet sand. Dry river beds will become raging rivers, and sand storms will make it very difficult to navigate.
Here's to hoping that the rains win and people can return to the business of survival instead of killing.
News on the conflict in Chad : CLICK HERE
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