NEWS FROM CHAD ~ YOU PROBABLY WON'T HEAR ABOUT THIS NEWS ON ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC CNN OR FOX NEWS

Rebel Forces Roll Into Chad’s Capital, Battle For Control

Government Accuses Sudan Of Arming the Attackers

By Stephanie McCrummen and Robin Wright
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, February 3, 2008; A17

NAIROBI, Feb. 2 — After a three-day advance across the desert, hundreds of rebels fought their way into the capital of the oil-rich nation of Chad on Saturday, and as night fell, it remained unclear whether the government or the rebels were in control.

Rebel trucks rolled through the streets of the capital, N’Djamena, and residents shut themselves indoors as gunfire echoed through the city, witnesses said.
A spokesman for the rebels, Abderamane Koullamalah, told Radio France International that they had offered to coordinate the departure of President Idriss D¿by*
with the African Union to “avoid a pointless bloodbath.”

But the Chadian ambassador to Ethiopia, Cherif Mahamat Zene, insisted that the government remained in control. He said D¿by(?) and his cabinet were “fine” and repeated a long-standing accusation that neighboring Sudan was supplying the rebels with weapons.
The rebels had advanced from the direction of the Sudanese border.

“Sudan is the one behind this attack,” Zene said from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack condemned the coup attempt and said the rebels had entered “from outside the country,” a clear reference to Sudan. “We call for calm in the capital and support the African Union’s call for an immediate end to armed attacks and to refrain from violence that might harm innocent civilians,” he said.

U.S. officials said that the city had not fallen to the rebels but that the fighting was intense.
“The situation remains too unsettled to project the outcome,” said Greg Garland, the State Department’s spokesman for Africa. “We continue to monitor conditions closely.”

The government of Chad, a former French colony with a population of almost 10 million and a newly booming oil industry, has in recent years battled a variety of rebel groups along its volatile eastern border with Sudan, forcing an estimated 170,000 Chadians to flee their homes for sprawling camps in the scrubby desert.

The rebel groups, one of which is led by D¿by’s (?) nephew, accuse the president of corruption but appear to be driven more by opportunism than ideology, according to analysts. They have shifted alliances and fought one other from time to time, often losing favor with the local populations they have displaced.

But D¿by(?), who came to power in a 1990 coup and owns several lavish palaces in the capital, is also highly unpopular among Chadians, who believe he has stolen the country’s oil wealth, estimated at more than $200 million annually. Instead of using the money to fund desperately needed schools, health clinics and roads, (?)D¿by has bought guns, attack helicopters and armored cars for his own protection.

The rebels rolled toward the capital in a convoy of about 300 trucks, battling government forces on the eastern and northern outskirts of the capital and later near the presidential palace, European officials said.

An American aid worker who was unable to leave a hotel near the palace because of the fighting, wrote on the Web site of his organization, Stop Genocide Now, that he and his colleagues were sneaking back and forth to the hotel’s third-floor windows to “get a glimpse of anything, something, usually just black smoke coming from the Presidential palace.”

“Nobody really knows what is happening,” Gabriel Stauring, 41, wrote. “We go through some quiet minutes, and it feels close to normal, but then, consistently, we get big bangs and non-stop gunfire. . . . As I write this, a shell hit way too close to us, the kind of bang you feel on your skin.”

By Saturday night, he wrote, bullets were flying and walls and objects were falling on top of him and about 50 other people huddled in the hotel’s dining room. Outside, a few French soldiers fought off gunmen who were also trying to take over the state-controlled radio station and a nearby hotel.

“We can only guess as to the extent of destruction around the city; there was almost nonstop heavy shooting, artillery, helicopter fire,” he wrote later in an e-mail to The Washington Post.
Libya’s official news agency, JANA, reported that rebel leader Mahamat Nouri agreed to a cease-fire Saturday night after speaking to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, who was appointed by the African Union to mediate, according to the Associated Press. The report could not be confirmed.

The State Department urged all American citizens to leave Chad and authorized the departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees because of the rebel advance, said Karl Duckworth, a department spokesman. About 500 Americans are estimated to be living in or visiting Chad.

France, which has 1,400 troops stationed in Chad and is widely seen as D¿by’s most powerful backer, condemned the rebel attack and called for reconciliation. French troops were not engaged in fighting the rebels, however, and remained focused on efforts to evacuate French and other European citizens.

The attack on N’Djamena delayed the deployment of 3,700 European Union troops to eastern Chad, where they were to help protect displaced Chadians and an estimated 230,000 Sudanese refugees who have fled the conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
According to analysts, the rebels believed the presence of the E.U. troops would curtail their own military plans, and European officials said Saturday that the rebel attack had been deliberately timed to thwart the troop deployment.

“This is no coincidence,” a French official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the crisis.

Wright reported from Washington. Special correspondent Kassahun Addis in Addis Ababa contributed to this report.

* Lieutenant General Idriss Déby Itno (born 1952) is the President of Chad and the head of the Patriotic Salvation Movement.

Idriss Deby at wikipedia

REAL NEWS FROM CHAD FEBRUARY 2, 2008

The following reports from the team of Stop genocide Now are part of the videos and story that I posted on the previous post.

We get so involved in our own world that we neglect to think of others' lives in other countries. And our media would rather tell us about Britney Spears and the like, than provide real news a lot of the times.

Here is some news:

Night in N’D—waiting.

Posted by Gabriel on February 2nd, 2008

It is past 1am in the capital of Chad. There has only been sporadic fighting, since the sun went down. I assume and hope that fighters need the rest and will take it easy for the night. Another better hope is that the fighting is over, and the people of Chad will begin a peaceful rebuilding of their city.

We were not evacuated, as we had hoped for. More than half of the people here were evacuated, including UN personnel and others (I’m not exactly sure of criteria, but they did not want Americans at that time). The people here are all huddled in to the dining area, where they brought in some of the cushions from the outside chairs for people to sleep on. Most are sleeping, after an exhausting day.

Right now, mosquitoes are one immediate, annoying problem. Snoring could be one, with some lions in the snoring department in the room, but it sounds even comforting to hear people resting and not talking about what happened or what might happen next.

I just cannot help but reflect on the days before coming back to N’D, the ones we spent in the camps with Darfuri refugees. The little children that we met went through horrors many times worse than we are going through here. As I sit here on the floor of the hotel restaurant after a day of craziness, I cannot imagine what it does to a child to endure living through extreme violence and then be sitting for years for help to come.

Paz,
Gabriel

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Latest from Gabriel

Posted by Gabriel on February 2nd, 2008

It was a close one. Bullets flew over our heads and parts of the walls and objects around us came raining down on us. We were already lying on the ground because the attack on the hotel had started just a few minutes before, when we came running down from the third floor. We made it to the bar area and went belly down behind a low partition wall.

The shots broke through the lobby glass and in to the bar, with heavy shooting in return from the French soldiers positioned around the hotel. KTJ and I crawled towards the low wall to feel more protected, but it just did not feel safe, to tell you the truth. As I crawled, I touched a small metal object that was burning hot, a bullet that had just ricocheted around the room. I have a little souvenir to remind me of the excitement. The shooting continued, and we were yelled at to make it across the bar area, right through the line of sight from the outside. “Low and fast, KTJ,” and we made a low run for it to the kitchen area, where everyone was congregating. French soldiers, very intense French soldiers, were running from one side of a long corridor that went from hotel front gate area to the yard in the back. We moved out of the way to one side, then to the other.

There are approximately fifty people in the hotel, maybe a few more. It has been calm for the last two hours, and the soldiers have escorted us, one by one, to our rooms to get essentials. We are leaving many bags and carrying only three backpacks.

If things remain calm, there might be an evacuation tonight, but it is all in a wait and see mode. We hear conflicting reports about what is happening outside, but the most consistent one is that the President is being taken out of the country by the French, but I decide not to really believe anything until it is completely confirmed and reconfirmed.

Now it’s a waiting game. I am hoping that the airport is controlled by the French and that the evacuation will take us there. I struggle to write all of this, knowing that my family will read it, but I will repeat what I have said in other posts: as crazy as this all is, we are relatively safe and following the instructions of the people that know more of what is going on. I know that I will soon be posting from a safe area.

Thanks for all the love, and we’re sending it back from N’D.

Paz,
Gabriel

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Latest from KTJ

Posted by Katie-Jay on February 2nd, 2008

Only the screen of my computer and the small emergency fixture above the African statue light the dining room. I can hear familiar voices and urgent news in French passing through the crowd. We have all gathered here after the attack and are waiting to be evacuated from N’Djamena. A plane flies close to the banks of the Cheri and several people jump. My heart sinks to my stomach, it sounded like a bomb.

An hour and half ago, Le Meridien was under fire. From who, we don’t know and have no intention of pointing fingers in an all too complicated military offensive on the city. Gabriel was in room 306 connecting to the bgan and uploading our recent video. I was in front of the room filming French military setting up their stations at either end of the L-shaped building. A think brown layer of smoke incases the city before the blue of the sky takes over.

Gabriel retrieves me and brings to the back porch, you can see more artillery in the sky from here. We wrap up, he goes to the bathroom which is at the front of the room, facing the street and I stay to send one more email.

Bum. Bum. Bam. Bam. Bummbum. Plaster shot from the side of the wall. The smell of smoke creeps under the door. Sh*!. F*-#. Okay. Grab the bgan, grab the bag, we need to join the others. My heart races and we make our way to the door. The bullets riddle the wall and door of 306. S-*^! No wait. Okay. Retreat to the behind the bed until it stops. A moment of silence, our only chance. Staying well below the waist high wall, my legs carry me to the staircase, my momentum almost tipping me over forward. Down three flights of switchback stairs and to the left through the doors to the lounge. Everyone is gone but a few people lying flat on their stomachs or backs.

I duck into the corner. The men surrounding me speak English, wondering where we came from and what we saw. I explain the situation from the top floor. A few of the men get up and move, like others, towards the all glass window entrance at the front of the hotel as silence settles around us.

Oh Sh*!. Its begins again and this time it is aiming for me. The vase above me breaks. A bullet enters the wall a foot or so above my head. I get closer to the wall. Scratched radio messages and shouting “C’est la ba. C’est la ba.” Move over there. The bullets aren’t stopping. The building shakes as French troops continue their attack on our intruders. Leaving everything but the Panasonic behind, Gabriel and I quickly crawl through the lounge, past the bar and into the dining room. Go. Go. Go. Into the kitchen.

My eyes adjust to the light as we weave through; I begin to see the faces of those who have been camped out with us most of the day. The shooting doesn’t cease for another good ten minutes. I breathe. In and out. In and out.

I am feel relatively calm huddled in the corner of the kitchen leaning against the cool tile walls. French military weave back and forth resituating the machine gun in front of the lounge.

You never know how you are going to react until you are in it. I have often thought about this. My reaction was quite simple. Breathe. “F#*-!” Breathe. Okay. Go. Wait. Avoid the glass. Breathe. Go. Wait. Ahhhhh, calmness. Breathe.

As I write this, screams come in over the radio and dusk is falling on N’Djamena. The French escort people to their rooms to retrieve their papers and luggage. We have been asked if we want to evacuate. And we said yes, as most others in this room have said.

Gabriel returns from the grounds to use our satellite phone. News reaches me that Teresa contacted the embassy and the embassy stated that we refused to leave when they came to get us. My relative calmness turns to annoyance and then anger. F*!#ers. What liars. Nobody but the MINUCAT head located here in the hotel has asked us, and that was less than 30 minutes ago. Liars. Teresa will call again. Dusk falls over N’Djamena and no certain word on a flight home.

Our team is safe: Josh, Jeremiah, Gabriel and myself. No one in the hotel has been hurt. We wait.

Salaam, KTJ

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For more: www.stopgenocidenow.org

NEWS THAT IS RARELY REPORTED IN THE USA ~ NEWS FROM CHAD

I include news about Darfur because it very seldom gets media attention in the United States of America. So many don't even know about the five year genocide that is going on in Darfur and the spilling over into neighboring Chad. Here is an email that I received and the article about the people trapped in Chad during some traumatic times.

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Fighting in N'djamena, Chad
February 2, 2008 post
Fighting has broken out in N'djamena. The team are still in the hotel there, where are they are uploading videos and updating journal entries.

Hi everyone,

I've been up all night monitoring the fighting in Chad. Gabriel and his team from Stop Genocide Now are trapped in N'djamena, the capital of Chad, while the rebels overrun the city. He can hear fighting outside. The presidential palace, the target of the rebels, is only two blocks away. I spoke to him just now by phone and could hear shots and explosions. I feel so helpless. Please pray for them. The US embassy told them to stay put. They are all huddled together in the dining room. They are hoping that the rebels just want to take over the presidential palace and overthrow the government, and won't want anything in the hotel. They will try to get out with the French soldiers if they leave. It's Saturday, but you might want to consider contacting any elected official you know to urge the US State Department to get them out immediately. If anyone has suggestions, please pass them along. They are trying to post messages at their website when possible (www.stopgenocidenow.org).

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Part 2: Fighting in N'djamena
February 2, 2008 post
Our team see crossfire in the hotel in the capital of Chad. There is fire in the direction of the presidential palace, and lots more gunshots

Story from BBC NEWS:

Eyewitness: 'Revolution's going on'

American aid worker Katie-Jay Scott, who is staying at a hotel in the centre of Chad's capital, N'Djamena, told BBC News of the fear that has gripped the city amid fierce gun battles between rebels and government troops.

The French military came at 0700 this morning and told us to stay inside the hotel.

From the third-floor we can see smoke coming from around the presidential palace about a kilometre-and-a-half away.

We hear gunfire and artillery and large explosions that shake the windows of the hotel.

It will be eerily quiet and then suddenly the gunfire starts up again.

We run to the back of the hotel, or the front, depending on where the shooting is coming from.

'A completely different city'

The French put snipers on the hotel roof, shut the main gates and make patrols of the hotel grounds.

I guess the main danger is from a stray bullet but I don't think the rebels are interested in this hotel.

They want to seize the main government buildings. It seems like there's a revolution going on.

The US embassy is instructing us to stay put and says we'll only evacuate if the French evacuate.

Some World Bank staff and people in World Food Programme vehicles were evacuated this morning.

When we got here a couple of days ago the streets were noisy and crowded with traffic and young people selling cell phone cards.

But since yesterday the streets have been completely empty, everyone was too scared to leave home as they knew the rebels were nearby. There's not a civilian on the street. It's a completely different city.

The mobile phone networks have all been shut down for a couple of days now.

Yesterday there were lots of helicopters and military planes in the skies above N'Djamena but there's none today.

We can just hear military vehicles, sounds like trucks and tanks rushing past.

Published: February 2, 2008 England time

Source:
BBC News Great Britain

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Fighting in N'djamena: Part 3
February 2, 2008 post
Gabriel and the rest of the i-ACT field team are stuck in a hotel in N'djamena waiting to be evacuated. There is still fighting going on outside...

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