Rebel attacks proving divisive in capital

As Chad prepares for presidential elections on 3 May IRIN finds the capital N’djamena’s residents desperate for a peaceful poll, fast losing patience with the incumbent President Idriss Deby, but divided in their support for the rebels. Life has returned to normal in N’djamena, Chad’s dusty low-rise capital, after attacks by anti-government rebels forced most residents to cower at home last week. But few think the fighting is over, and the slightest disturbance will see the shops hastily shuttered, touts vanish from street corners, and people again dashing for cover. “It’s true that calm has come back now, but everyone knows the discontent is just as strong as before”, said Louise Denenodji, 35, a street cleaner busy sweeping close to the presidential palace and scene of some of the heaviest fighting last week. “If anything it’s getting worse,” she added. “Soldiers are roaming around in the suburbs saying they are looking for arms abandoned by the rebels, but instead they are harassing the people who live there.” Since independence from France in 1960, Chadians have endured a succession of heavy-handed governments, almost unbroken fighting within and between the mosaic of ethnic groups that make up its 10 million citizens and battles with neighbouring Libya, Sudan, Cameroon, and Central African Republic. Survival is a daily battle for most Chadians who cannot expect to live to see their 45th birthday in one of the world’s poorest countries, according to the UN. Yet not everyone is sick of fighting. “We have been waiting and hoping for war,” said Daniel Mbaikounda, who is lucky to have a job in Chad’s new oil sector. “It’s not that I want people to die, but so that the Chadian people can be relieved of this dictatorship.” Many of the Chadians that want to see the back of Deby accuse him of corruption and misusing precious state funds. Government coffers filled up after oil began flowing from Chadian soil in 2003, but citizens say they are not reaping any of the benefits in a country where 75 percent of adults are illiterate, according to the UN. “People are asking why money is being used to buy arms and pay bureaucrats, and not being used to benefit the people,” said Denenodji as she toiled to clean up the plastic bags from the scorched roadside. Last year Deby scrapped a commitment to the World Bank to spend 10 percent of oil revenues on health and education projects, redirecting the cash to state coffers to be spent at the government’s discretion. This week Deby reportedly received six military Mi-17 helicopters worth around US $5 million each. The NGO Transparency International ranked Chad as the most corrupt in the world last year and Chadians think that Deby is using oil money to shore up support as more and more soldiers desert his armed forces to take up the rebel cause. “The regime has established a culture of clans and warlordism as its way of administration,” explained Tokssala Sirandi, 48, a low-level local government official. “If you have a relative well-placed within the administration it is possible to win any competition or job. Certain people are not punished when they commit crimes or even hurt other people. If things don’t change we will never move on,” he added. Chadians are divided on whether the rebels, should they manage to dislodge Deby, would have anything better to offer. Mahamat Mbodou, 22, a shopkeeper in the city centre, said he thought last week’s fighting was “terrible”, but he still applauded when the rebels arrived because “I’m angry with the President. Everyone is against him but he still says the people are behind him”. But others, like fruit-vendor Abakar Zenaba, 25, say that violence is not the answer even though she has friends and relations who have signed up with anti-Deby groups. “We see our friends and families joining the rebellion and they tell us they are going to save the people, but all they are doing is making things worse. What we need is harmony among all Chadians, not more divisions,” she said. The identities of the fractious groups fighting Deby are murky at best. The largest and best known is the United Front for Democratic Change (FUCD), which claims to be a coalition of eight rebel groups dedicated to overthrowing the government ahead of 3 May elections. Deby’s government has repeatedly accused neighbouring Sudan of sponsoring militias seeking to install a pro-Khartoum government in N’djamena and last week severed diplomatic ties with Sudan. Jonas Mbaiougam, 40, a civil servant in N’djamena is doubtful that election day will come and go without more fighting and blood-loss. “Deby won’t leave and he won’t change. He told us elections would bring us peace but all we’ve got is more chaos. He said they would bring unity but the opposition is going to boycott”, he said. President Deby who came to power after staging his own rebellion with backing from Sudan in 1990 promised an end of repression and the dawning of a new age of multi-party politics, but his regime has been marked been a succession of rebellions. For Sylvain, 19, a student at the N’djamena business school, the solution is dialogue. “I am opposed to violence and so are most students. It makes me angry that our government has caused this situation,” he said. Surveying a bullet-pocked wall, Sylvain added “Chad has profound problems”.