http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/080205-chad-france-deby
Radio Netherlands
February 5, 2008
France backs Chad government despite EU unease
by Dave McGuire
-It's not the first time France has come to the aid of
the Chadian president. In 2006, the French sent
fighter jets to deter a rebel march on the capital.
-"The Europeans say, ‘We didn't want to get involved
in EUFOR, you convinced us, but now we understand you
have your private war in Chad, and we don't like
that'...."
French President Nicholas Sarkozy has said that France
will come to the aid of the embattled leader of Chad,
after the UN Security Council passed a resolution
supporting the government of Idriss Déby. President
Sarkozy told reporters, "If France has to do its duty,
it will. No one should doubt that".
It's not the first time France has come to the aid of
the Chadian president. In 2006, the French sent
fighter jets to deter a rebel march on the capital.
But the EU, which has postponed sending troops to
eastern Chad to protect refugees from Darfur, is not
entirely sure. It's uneasy about the French taking
sides in a conflict in which it was supposed to be
serving in a peacekeeping role, according to Roland
Marchal of Science Po University in Paris:
"The Europeans say, ‘We didn't want to get involved in
EUFOR, you convinced us, but now we understand you
have your private war in Chad, and we don't like
that'. So the French are very careful to appear that
they are not directly involved, but I would say they
have been supporting Déby - but maybe not as much as
Déby would like."
A warlord, through and through
The current violence is reminiscent of the coup that
brought President Déby to power in 1990. The rebel
groups are offering a ceasefire only if Déby steps
down. But according to Paul Simon Handy of the
Institute for Security Studies in South Africa, it's
unlikely that he will resign:
"This man is a warlord, through and through. He will
never leave power - neither constitutionally nor after
a coup - if he's not been killed."
....
Serbian News Network - SNN
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