Amnesty Research Mission to Chad: 20 May - June 2, 2010

Photo: Association for the Promotion of Fundamental Rights (APLFT) vehicle that was stolen by a group of armed men.

[Note: this mission blog post was recorded by Alex using a satellite phone.  Listen to Alex's recorded message and read the transcript below]

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Today was supposed to be a straightforward day of travel.  We were set to fly back to Abéché from Farchana and then make some decisions about the next steps in our mission.

But the skies in eastern Chad were hazy, heavy with sand and clouds.  We waited at the UN base here for six hours, hoping that the UN helicopter would arrive from Abéché and then turn around for its return trip, with us on board.  The word from Abéché, hour after hour, however, was that flights weren’t taking off because of visibility problems.  Attendez.  Wait.

By 3 p.m. it had become clear that we weren’t going anywhere.  But then suddenly that did not matter anymore.  The UN base was suddenly frantic with worrying news that a UN vehicle in the area had been stopped by armed men and – the first rumour suggested – three UN police officers abducted.  It had happened outside Bredjing refugee camp, where we had been working on Tuesday and Wednesday, along a road we had travelled frequently.

Very quickly UN vehicles had been dispatched from the base.  Soon there was welcome news that the 3 police officers had not been abducted.  Their vehicle had indeed been stolen, but they and others in the UN convoy they were travelling with, had not been harmed.

But almost immediately we had much more distressing news.  When we called friends at the local office of the Association for the Promotion of Fundamental Rights in Chad to see if someone could come to pick us up and bring us back to the World Food Program compound where we have been staying these past several days, we learned that one of their vehicles had also been stopped by armed men this afternoon and two of their staff abducted.

Our hearts sank when we learned that one of the abducted men was Ibrahim, the driver who has been working closely with us for the past week.  He had worked with us in Abéché and had driven to Farchana to continue to work with us.  He had been with us early this morning when we made a short visit to nearby Farchana refugee camp.  He had dropped us at the UN base only about 4 or 5 hours before he had been abducted. Ibrahim was a lovely, quiet man, father of 3 young children.  He was always there with us and for us.  And now he might be missing.

Ibrahim had been intending to meet up with us again in Abéché to continue working with us.  Our first agonizing worry, therefore, was that he had been taken while on the road back to Abéché.   Never before had any of us faced the prospect of the possibility of such a direct link between someone’s collaboration with an Amnesty research mission and suffering some terrible harm.

For hours there was no news of our two friends with APLFT, Ibrahim and Nerambaye.  We did eventually get official word that the flights had been cancelled.  The UN police officers whose vehicle was stolen returned to the base. But no word about Ibrahim and Nerambaye.   Time came for us to return to the WFP base.  We returned to town with very heavy hearts.

Our first stop upon return to town was to the APLFT office, where all APLFT staff in the area had gathered.  The worry and distress in people’s face was heavy.  But just as we arrived, the local director’s cell phone rang – and there, on the other end, was Ibrahim.  He and Nerambaye had been released in a village right along the border with Sudan.  They had not been harmed.  The vehicle was lost.  They were in safe hands and would be returning to Farchana in the morning.  

As you can imagine, relief and joy overflowed.    

We then learned the fuller story about the afternoon’s worrying events.  Ibrahim and Nerambaye had been driving out to the village of Hardjab Hadid, which lies between two large refugee camps, Bredjing and Treguine.  They were going to pick up a group of 8 APLFT staff from offices in the area, who were coming into Farchana for a meeting.  When they did not arrive in time, the group of 8 managed to find room in a UNHCR vehicle that was returning to Farchana as part of a UN-escorted convoy.  That was the convoy – led by a vehicle of unarmed UN police, with a vehicle of armed Chadian police from the newly established Integrated Security Detachment bringing up the rear – that fell victim to the attack.  Such is the state of security in eastern Chad that a group of 3 armed men was able to easily overwhelm the UN  convoy.  Everyone was forced from their vehicles, including the unarmed UN police and the armed Chadian police.  No one was harmed.  Two vehicles were stolen.

It was soon after this had happened that the fate of Ibrahim and Nerambaye became clear. They had not made it to pick up the group of 8 because they had been stopped and abducted before they made it to the village.  A very upsetting day obviously for the hardworking human rights activists with the APLFT – 10 of their staff were caught up in these 2 incidents.  Fortunately, all have come through unharmed, though terribly shaken.

In the wake of these attacks, it is impossible not to think of how inadequate security arrangements are in eastern Chad.  UN forces took over from a European security force in mid-March.  The UN force is supposed to number 5200, but to date is only at about 40% of that level.  Stories abound of the troops being plagued by a lack of equipment and weapons.  For instance, countries have only pledged 6 of 18 helicopters that the force needs to carry out basic security operations in the area.  Similarly, the new UN-trained Chadian police force – set up specifically to deal with the crisis in eastern Chad – is not at its full levels either, 700 of 850 have been deployed, but they lack sufficient vehicles and other material essential to their work.

That must change.  The international community has promised safety to the people of eastern Chad.  We must make sure they deliver on that promise.  Ibrahim was lucky today. Someone else might not have the same luck tomorrow.

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