Habibou Hamadou Maiga looks at the Chadian political crisis through the lens of the French and Francophone African press In the aftermath of Thursday's armed opposition attack on the Chadian capital Ndjamena -- Francophone newspapers displayed a great deal of criticism over the stationing of France's 1,350 troops within its former colony. According to the official viewpoint, the French forces are stationed in Chad for reasons of logistical support and information purposes only. In the event of an emergency, they claim these forces must be on standby to assist in the evacuation of the 1,500 French nationals, as well as the other foreigners. In her article "How to save the soldier Deby?" Camille Bauer of L'Humanite (15 April 2006) acknowledges the "low level of combat" in Paris was made to avoid the seizure of power in Chad, a bastion of the French "strategic interests" in Africa. Though Paris explained that its need "to save" Deby was provoked by the fear of chaos, Bauer believes that France should "perhaps question itself with regards to its strong support for an 'illegitimate' president who came to power following a coup d'état, and was elected twice under doubtful conditions and also prepared to run a third mandate after having changed the constitution." Bauer continues: "On the contrary, this is one of the causes of the current disaster." Highlighting the historical relationship between the two countries, Pierre Prier of Le Figaro (15 April 2006) explains in his analysis that "Chad, laboratory of the post 'Françafrique' concept" and that Chad was "the strategic stronghold of France in Africa". Prier asserts that this later "was made clear to Gaddafi in the 1980s, when a massive delivery of missiles stopped the Libyan armoured tanks from occupying Chad. No Chadian president could reign long without the approval of Paris. When the Chadian heads of the state no longer pleased Paris, they were discreetly but firmly ousted from office." Although the same scenario is seemingly being repeated, this time, however, France has taken the side of the current regime. For the analyst, "this position is likely to generate an intolerable situation and a partition of the country, as in Côte d'Ivoire. It undoubtedly testifies to the difficulty of France to adapt itself to the new challenges of Africa." Furthermore, under the headline: "Deby temporarily drawn from business" Stepahanie Braquehais of Liberation (15 April 2006) says the president won the battle of Ndjamena "for the moment" as he pushed back the offensive of the rebels who were knocking at the doors of his capital. Indeed, they did storm the capital before being pushed out. It required six hours of violent combat, with massive French help to oust the rebels. This was considered "quite a long night" for Deby, who single handedly organised the troops threatening his capital. In Braquehais's article, the strategy of the rebels was labelled as "hazardous", and even "suicidal". Braquehais also detailed the action: "the rebels -- equipped with light weapons -- could not stop the tanks which were deployed at the northeastern exit of the capital. These were Libyan tanks of Russian manufacture, taken in 1986 by Chadians." Also highlighted within the article is how "the motivation" of the troops was determining. "Many of the younger generation of Zaghawas who joined the army in order to overcome the rebels," Braquehais adds. Another question was presented by Le Potential (14 April 2006) of the Democratic Republic of Congo: "Is the death knell sounding for Deby? Monsa Iyaka Duku finds that Chad was always "shaken by 'wars of liberation'". From Goukouni Waddayi to Idris Deby, and of course, there was the ruthless dictator Hissene Habre. "The liberation, and even the fight for democracy is played with by the exchange of gunfire." Duku adds, "the discovery of oil in Chad accelerated the political crisis, which was followed by the mismanagement of the oil's revenue. Deby and his entourage are said to have grown excessively rich, while the rest of the population has plunged into poverty." Lastly, Burkina Faso newspaper L'Observateur (14 April 2006) asked: "Is this the end for Deby?" Dieudonné Zoungrana comments that the discrepancies of history are a sad reality in Chad, as the head of the rebellion, Mahamat Nour, "swore that Deby will not be there" for next May's presidential elections.
