Don't let Darfur repeat in Chad

By JOHN HEFFERNAN AND KIRSTEN JOHNSON

Sunday, September 18, 2005 Posted at 11:54 PM EDT

Special to Globe and Mail Update

As the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, continues to destroy the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, another crisis looms next door. Last month, while we were in Chad, its ailing President was in France seeking medical care for an unknown, reportedly serious illness. Chadians we spoke to were anxious that he might not return. The tension was palpable. The demise of the long-time Chadian ruler could trigger regional unrest and directly affect the 200,000 Sudanese refugees living in Chad.

Chad's President, Idriss Deby, maintains a precarious balance between the Islamist dictatorship in Sudan, which helped put him into power, and his ethnic brethren, the Zaghawa, who live along the Chad-Sudan border. It is the Zaghawa and other non-Arab groups that have been systemically targeted by the Arab Sudanese government and their proxy forces - the janjaweed - in an attempt to cleanse Darfur of its non-Arab population.

The refugees from Darfur are housed in camps not far from the Sudan-Chad border. They crossed into Chad after repeated attacks by the Government of Sudan and the janjaweed, beginning in February, 2003, which forced them from their land and homes. Talking with members of the Zaghawa, Fur and Massaleit tribes in Chad a few weeks ago, we found that many of these refugees have witnessed the rape and/or killing of family members. The overwhelming majority have had their livestock stolen or killed, crops burned, water supply destroyed and property looted. Many faced starvation and illness and were separated from families as they fled their villages. In some camps we visited, up to 70 per cent of the heads of household are women - their husbands and sons murdered by the janjaweed.

Although life as a refugee in Chad is almost certainly better than the plight of more than two million of their counterparts in the camps inside Sudan, these people still do not have it easy. And if Mr. Deby's rule comes to an end, their fate may well be even worse if Chad's fragile stability unravels.

Tensions between the refugees and their Chadian hosts are on the rise, principally due to scarcity of resources and ethnic divisiveness between the Chadian Arabs and the non-Arab refugees. As water supplies dwindle, refugee women have to wait for hours for a turn at the pump. The wood supply for cooking is diminishing; in some areas, refugee women are forced to walk more than 10 kilometres, going through Arab-controlled villages, to search for it, which puts them at great risk of assault. We were told of one 13-year-old refugee girl who was raped by local bandits while her family was returning to their camp after searching for wood.

The refugees have nowhere to go and no resources to help them become more self-sufficient. They are reliant on humanitarian assistance and whatever else they can scrape together. To resolve the problem in some camps, aid organizations have been able to provide refugees with all of their food supplies, water requirements and shelter needs, and have been trucking in firewood to use as fuel. The local Chadians, who in many places are worse off than their refugee neighbours, feel increasingly marginalized and resentful. One relief worker told us of an armed clash in his camp in May that left three dead and many seriously injured.

To date, Mr. Deby's regime has provided some security to the refugees and considerable access to them by the humanitarian organizations. If the President cannot maintain his rule and the fragile balance is lost, the government of Sudan could exert its influence during a power vacuum. The refugees' situation would become more precarious. Tensions that would likely erupt into violence might force humanitarian organizations to pull out of the country.

The future of those living near the Chad-Sudan border region rides not only on a resolution of the conflict in Darfur, but also on a stable Chad. A fragile balance in which the different groups can peacefully co-exist must be found soon. Chadian authorities, with the help of the international community, must address these problems or dire widespread consequences could result.

Canada has an opportunity to exercise a leadership role in this festering crisis. It can, for example, push for more international assistance to Chadians. For the Darfurians, the ideal solution would be for them to return to their homes, but as the security outlook in Sudan remains grim, there is little chance they will be going home any time soon - yet another reason to help assure a stable Chad.

The world failed to intervene effectively in Darfur, and hundreds of thousands have died. As disaster looms in Chad, will we fail again?

John Heffernan, a senior investigator for Physicians for Human Rights, has led three investigations to the Chad-Sudan border; Kirsten Johnson, a Canadian physician and recent graduate of Harvard School of Public Health, participated in a human-rights investigation to Chad for the U.S.-based Physicians for Human rights.