Chad/Sudan/CAR map: A dry river bed delineates Chad-Sudan border

1. JANJAWEED AND CHAD REBELS: Chad says Sudan government-backed militias are attacking villagers in Chad. Some 200,000 Darfur refugees are also in Chad. Chad also accuses Khartoum of backing the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), which is a coalition of small armed groups and army deserters who have launched cross border attacks from Darfur. These attacks have raised communal tensions in eastern Chad, which has a similar ethnic make-up to Darfur.

2. DARFUR REBELS: Sudan accuses Chad of backing the Darfur rebels. There have also been allegations that many of these rebels have become assimilated into Chad's national army - a charge Chad's government denies. Some Darfur rebels come from the same Zagawa ethnic group as Chad's President Idriss Deby. Chad has called for United Nations peacekeepers to patrol the border. Sudan is resisting any UN deployment.

3. CAR REBELS: Chad says it will send troops to help CAR fight the rebels. The Central African Republic (CAR) says Sudan backs Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR) rebels who have seized towns in CAR. The government says the UFDR are operating from Darfur with the support of the Sudanese authorities. French forces have already deployed against CAR rebels in support of the government

4. CHAD TROOPS: CAR says Sudan backs rebels who have seized towns in CAR. It accuses Sudan of attempting to destabilise both Chad and CAR and has suggested an anti-Sudan alliance. Almost 50,000 refugees have arrived in Chad in recent weeks, fleeing fighting in CAR.

Source: BBC special report 6 Dec 2006.
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Dry river bed delineates Chad-Sudan border

Sudan and Chad seem as one vast dusty plain, no fences or signposts. Reminiscent of a bygone era in North America's Wild West.



Photo: Darfur rebels make little note of the border between Chad and Sudan as members of one rebel unit from the Sudan Liberation Army play cards in the dry river bed that delineates the border between the two countries on Friday, Feb. 16, 2007. Attacks on civilians and aid groups have intensified sharply along the Chad-Sudan border in the last two weeks, as the violence in Darfur continues to spill over into its African neighbor and cross-border guerrilla raids mount. (AP Photo/Alfred de Montesquiou)
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Darfur rebel on Sudan-Chad border wearing a captured Sudanese army officer's uniform

Some news reports say Darfur rebels steal most of their weapons and trucks from the Sudanese army.



Photo: A section leader from the Sudan Liberation Army, center, wearing a captured Sudanese officer's uniform with three stars, and other rebels are pictured along the Chad-Sudan border on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2007. (AP Photo/Alfred de Montesquiou)
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JEM's Ibrahim is in Chad

The head of one Darfur's main rebel groups said he is willing to call a cease-fire if the Khartoum government stops attacks on civilians in the war-torn region and agrees to re-negotiate the Darfur peace deal -- but warned of a new offensive if it fails to do so. Khalil Ibrahim heads the Justice and Equality Movement, which along with most other rebel groups have refused to sign onto the Darfur Peace Accord.

Photo: [Insert link]: The head of one Darfur's main rebel groups Khalil Ibrahim is seen during an interview in the town of Abeche in eastern Chad, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007. (AP Photo)
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Chadian soldiers patrol Adre and Abeche, Chad



Photo: Soldiers from Chad's National Army man a tank in Adre, bordering Sudan's Darfur region, February 5, 2007. The leaders of Sudan and Chad said they agreed on Wednesday to redouble efforts to end violence spilling over their border from Darfur. (Emmanuel Braun/Reuters)



Photo: Soldiers from Chad's National Army patrol the road to Abeche in eastern Chad, February 7, 2007.
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Tora Bora fighters ride on top of a pick-up in Adre, Chad



Photo: Tora Bora fighters, members of a Sudanese group long famed as arms smugglers operating along Sudan's borders with Chad and Central African Republic, ride on top of a pick-up in Adre, February 6, 2007. A dawn concerto of war woke this scruffy Chadian border town of mud-brick houses and dusty streets on Tuesday, sending the few residents who were out scuttling back to their homes. (Reuters)

Tora Bora fighters dress up after taking bath at small lake in Adre, Chad



Photo: Tora Bora fighters, members of a Sudanese group long famed as arms smugglers operating along Sudan's borders with Chad and Central African Republic, dress up after taking bath at small lake in Adre, bordering Sudan's Darfur region, February 6, 2007. (Reuters)

Tora Bora fighters sit in a vehicle in Adre, Chad



Photo: Tora Bora fighters, members of a Sudanese group long famed as arms smugglers operating along Sudan's borders with Chad and Central African Republic, sit on a pick-up track near a small lake in Adre, February 6, 2007. (Reuters)
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Ugandan LRA rebels move towards CAR

See Feb 24 2007 Reuters report: Ugandan rebels move towards CAR - Sudanese official.



Photo: A farmer examines raw grain cotton in a plantation outside Bossangoa, Central African Republic, February 13, 2007. The country's cotton harvest has fallen to less than one tenth of the harvest in the late 1990s, but now a government body has taken control of the industry and hopes to revive the sector, which is an important source of foreign exchange for the deeply poor country. Picture taken February 13, 2007. (Reuters)

UPDATE: See Feb 25 2007 news report: UN Secretary General proposes 11,000 UN peacekeepers to deter cross-border attacks in E Chad