The Ticking Bomb in Chad
Ben Mensah
"Food Aid to the poor Chadians is shared with occupation soldiers who have turned the limited number of schools into housing units......"By virtue of their membership of the Organisation of African Unity, Nigeria and Libya are two neighbours of Chad who are expected to pursue a policy of good neighbourliness and a healthy respect for the OAU principle of the inviolability of international boundaries inherited by states at the time of their national independence.
The main characters in the on-going drama, Weddeye, Habre, Gaddafi
The two countries are also expected to adhere to the provisions of international law relating to the non-use or threat of use of force in relations between states.
In 1981 however President Shagari of Nigeria had cause to comment that Libyan involvement in the Chad crisis had added to the dimension of the risk of wider foreign intervention President Shagari then added that the last thing Africa needed then was the involvement of big powers in African disputes or shooting wars which once begun would generate a runaway momentum of its own.
The military intervention of France in the Chad Conflict could not have been dictated by any other factor than Libya's direct involvement on the side of Goukhounni Weddeye. And even though the French action has halted the massive bloodshed of the conflict, there is also no doubt that Chad today is divided country with the Libyan backed forces of Goukounni Weddeye controlling the North while the capital city N'djamena and other Southern areas are controlled by President Hissene Habre.
Undoubtedly the people of Chad need food, clothing, housing, water, schools and hospitals but above all these, they need peace to be able to work towards their attainment. Yet whether in the north or south Chadians have been compelled to share their villages and cities with thousands of gun-toting soldiers from Libya, Zaire, France and Chad itself.
Food aid to the poor Chadians is shared with occupation soldiers who have turned the limited number of schools into housing units and are cared for in the hospitals by the small number of doctors and nurses who are compelled to divert drugs meant for Chadians to these foreign soldiers.
Certainly this was the perception of President Shagari when he warned of a runaway momentum of a foreign intervention in the Chadian crisis.
At this stage it must be recognised that the people of Chad are being manipulated like pawns in a war game. The early days of Chad independence when norther muslim tribes battled against southern christian tribes of the country for all sorts of reasons are over. President Hissene Habre and Goukhounni Weddey are both Muslim and both members of the same northern Toubou tribe. In their record as leaders, both have been rebel and President, have allied with Libya and also depended on the French for aid. Whatever differences there were between them used to be minimal and certainly limited to personal styles.
In other countries these would be considered ideal candidates and alternate leaders made out of them.
Their followers then would be organised into mass movements along the lines of political parties so that instead of drawing daggers at each other's' throats in a mad military exercise of elimination, the supporters of the two would be given the opportunity to vote to elect their leaders.
This has not been the case for the people of Chad because unlike President Shagari of Nigeria, who does not aim to meddle in the affairs of neighbouring countries, there is Colonel Gaddafi of Libya whose sole preoccupation is to convert as many countries as possible to his Green Book ideology.
So far he has been stopped in his designs over Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan and even Syria because American and Russian interests in the Middle East are too strategic to be entrusted to Libyan style revolutionaries. Unfortunately this is not so with Africa while President Reagan refers to Chad as not being in the American sphere of influence. 'It is that of France', he says.
This virtual neglect of Africa has paved the way for an upstart colonialist, Col Gaddaffi of Libya to ride-roughshod over the rights and independence of African countries, particularly those of the West African region.
In Chad Col Gaddafi has succeeded in accentuating the minor differences between Hissene Habre and Goukhonni Weddeye to the point of the former seeking to build a Mobutu version of capitalist administration while the latter is now a firm believer in Gaddafi's type of people government
But there is also no doubt that if Colonel Gaddaffi can get President Habre to toe his line, his present ally Goukhouni Weddeye would be sacrificed for the flourish of Gaddaff's Green Book in Chad. However for as long as Hissene Habre refuses to budge the battle lines will remain drawn with Libya waiting for an opportunity to conquer the southern part of the country too.
The latest congregation of African leaders was in Vittel three weeks ago where as many as forty African heads of state conferred with the French President over wide ranging issues including the conflict in Chad. That these leaders chose to refer the solution of the conflict to the OAU is an opportunity lost.
The people of Chad need peace to be able to grow food and build schools, hospitals, roads and homes for their use. Any opportunity lost to provide this peace is a tragedy not for Col Gaddaffi, Goukhonni Weddeye, Hissen Habre, Zairean or French troops. It is a big TRAGEDY for the people of Chad.
President Habre who previously had rejected direct negotiations, describing Goukhounni as a Libyan puppet has now consented to talk directly with him in Ndjamena.
What these two leaders must realise now is that by continuing to feud they are denying the people of Chad peace and prosperity. They must therefore unite to deny Col Gaddaffi the opportunity of intervening in their country's internal affairs, which in turn will necessitate intervention by other foreign forces such as French and Zairese.
If they cannot unite to guarantee the sovereignty, peace and prosperity of their people they will soon realise that both of them have forfeited their right to lead Chad.
That time certainly is not too far away when the people of Chad will say they need new and independent minded leaders.
"The use of force alone is but temporary it may subdue for a moment but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again: and a nation is not governed, which is perpetually to be conquered
— Edmund Burke
