In this issue:

War Looms Between Chad and Sudan

Chaos Spreads to Another Region of Africa

Talks Begin in Kenya; Numbers of Displaced Persons Climbs

War Looms Between Chad and Sudan

Feb. 6 (EIRNS)—Destabilizations continue to spread throughout Africa, ranging from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (the largest war in modern African history, with a death toll of 5.4 million, making it the deadliest conflict since World War II), to Kenya, to Somalia, and now to the border region of eastern Chad and the Darfur region of Sudan. French Defense Minister Hervé Morin, in Chad today, pledged French support to the Chad government in its fight against anti-government rebels, who failed in their attempt to overthrow President Idriss Déby Itno, Feb. 1-3, after a convoy of rebels entered Chad from Sudan on Jan. 28, heading toward N'Djamena, the capital. The rebel action began the same week that the EU military peacekeeping mission to eastern Chad was scheduled to begin, forcing its postponement.

U.S. diplomats at the UN are cited today in the French daily Le Monde, as being favorable to a French military intervention into the region. The justification given is that Sudan was behind the anti-Chad rebels, because it wanted a friendly government in Chad, which would not allow the EU military force to be installed in Chad, so Sudan would have to a free hand to wipe out anti-Sudan rebels in Darfur, which borders on Chad.

Déby blames Sudan and Libya for the rebel action, which came from Darfur, and has threatened to pursue the rebels into Sudan, while Sudan has said it will repel any attacks by Chad. The just-defeated anti-Déby rebels, who are closely allied to anti-Sudan rebels in Darfur, vow to go on the offensive again.

If France and the United States are so worried about the survival on the Déby government, why didn't they warn Déby, with information they had from satellite and aerial reconnaissance, of the invading column of pickup trucks armed with machine-gun-toting rebels, which took four days to drive across Chad, from Sudan, before the column began attacking government installations in N'Djamena? Was it to legitimize Chad's claim that Sudan wanted to destabilize Chad, so the strategic hornets' nest in eastern Chad and western Sudan could be stirred up?

The destabilizations designed by London to go off around the globe as the financial system collapses, are now set to expand to a conflict between Chad and Sudan, disguised as a regional conflict between two countries, supported by the United States and France, in the case of Chad, and by China in the case of Sudan, with the initiating role of London not being mentioned in the Western media.

Chaos Spreads to Another Region of Africa

Feb. 11 (EIRNS)—Aerial bombardments and armed attacks by the Sudanese army and allied militias on Feb. 8-9, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Helene Caux yesterday, have resulted in 12,000 refugees fleeing into the Biran region of highly volatile eastern Chad. Sudanese army spokesman Othman Mohammed al-Agbash confirmed the attacks against anti-Sudan government rebels, to Sudan's official news agency SUNA, Feb. 9.

The refugee influx, which will raise the total number of Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad to at least 100,000, takes place as defeated anti-Chad rebels, who entered Chad from Sudan Jan. 28, to attack the capital, are now proceeding to the ungoverned and porous three-border area of Sudan, Chad, and the Central African Republic, from where they are expected to return to sanctuaries in western Sudan.

The latest refugee influx into Chad took place as a senior UN official, according to AFP, warned Feb. 9 of a proxy war between Sudan and Chad, via rebel groups on either side of their joint border.

The anti-Chad rebel incursion, which led to the Feb. 2-3 attack on the capital, cut supply lines to the agencies servicing refugees in eastern Chad, resulting in serious supply shortages. The defeated rebels retreated to Mongo, in central Chad, and regrouped with reinforced manpower, before continuing south to the three-border area.

Now that the rebel invasion into Chad has been defeated, the EU is planning to begin sending in its peacekeeping force into eastern Chad. This had been originally scheduled for the same week that the rebels launched their assault. French Brig. Gen. Jean-Philippe Ganascia, who is heading the EU force on the ground in Chad, told BBC today that the fighting in the capital has led to a four-week delay in deployment. The anti-Chad rebels today denounced the EU force, and demanded that European countries pull out of it, because it is not neutral in the Chad dispute. They accuse France of participating in their defeat, and charge that the force is not neutral, since it will be dominated by France.

Talks Begin in Kenya; Numbers of Displaced Persons Climbs

Feb. 11 (EIRNS)—Former UN chief Kofi Annan is meeting with negotiators for Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga today, in hopes of ending their dispute, and the violence in especially the western part of the country, which erupted after the disputed Dec. 27 elections. Over 1,000 people have been reported killed, and UN emergency relief coordinator John Holmes, of the United Kingdom, reports that 300,000 people were displaced and are now in camps, according to AFP today. He stated that there probably are as many displaced who are not in camps, which would make for a total of 600,000. On Feb. 8, Annan indicated that the two sides had relinquished their hard-line positions, leading to the negotiations beginning today. Police reported no incidents of violence overnight in western Kenya, which is being attributed to the change in political attitudes, national police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said today.