The UN will withdraw peacekeepers from Chad, which Amnesty International will put thousands of displaced persons and refugees at risk. Chad says it will protect those displaced persons and refugees. It promises. VOA, which published the article I link to, ran this Reuters photo, in what was I can only a guess an attempt to illustrate Chadian protection without irony.
Of course I have no idea what fashions the Chadian army may sport after MINURCAT leaves. But armed African men look so much more…what’s the word…African? Armed?…when they’re dressed like the terrorists in a Matt Damon film, don’t they?
I interrupt this incredibly worn and predictable criticism of the mainstream American media to mention that MINURCAT is not just in Chad. It’s also in the no-man’s-land of northeastern Central African Republic, where security is so bad UNDP staff told me they can’t get up there. Or rather, they can’t go because MINURCAT doesn’t have enough staff to protect them adequately. UNDP, by the way, is running the country’s disarmament and demobilization, which includes some of the rebels in the northeast. So when MINURCAT leaves, they’re going to get those guns…how?
The DDR staff I met in Bangui was very nice. Maybe they can charm the AKs from the rebels’ tight grip?
