Battle-scarred Chad capital is no "place of rest"

After days of fighting and political maneuvering from the Chadian Government, the rebels and the international community, it appears that the fighting has ended in N’djamena, Chad’s capital.

Reports are that several hundred innocent civilians were killed, most were
killed while caught in the crossfire. The phone networks, as of now, are still down. Other reports circulating state that Sudan and Saudi Arabia both offered support to the rebels who numbered at around 2,000 and were well armed with at least 250 vehicles.

The French intervention at the last minute is seen by some as a political move and by others as the move that tipped the scales in favor of Chadian President Idriss Deby.

Charles de Gaulle Avenue, the Chadian capital’s main business street, bears the scars of war.

Decomposing bodies, some covered with paper or cardboard, buzz with flies in the dust of what is normally a busy commercial hub of N’Djamena, whose name means “place of rest” in the local Arabic.

“I’m tired of war,” said Ahmat Moussa, who was searching for a missing relative in the wreckage-littered avenue.

He paused to study the blackened carcass of a military pickup truck — the vehicle of choice in Chad’s fast-moving desert war — lying in front of the fire-gutted offices of Chad’s national airline Toumai Air.

“All we want is peace and security. Chad has too much war,” Moussa added, recalling the succession of conflicts, rebellions and coups which have shaken this landlocked former French colony in central Africa since independence in 1960.

Passers-by held hands to their noses as they passed the bodies. A severed human leg lay in one part of the avenue.

Posted by glaszrai
Peace Truth and Love, Robert http://GoogleDarfur.com ( 0}==;;;

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