I thank the joint committee for giving me the opportunity to make a presentation on the situation in eastern Chad. I will give a brief overview of the work of Wingspread International which is based in the midlands.
Wingspread International is involved in community development in both Chad and Ireland. The complex links between human well-being and the process of globalisation, with the degradation of natural resources, produce profound challenges. Its strategy is based on the interaction of people, ideas and environmental education linked to sustained continuous mentoring and an intense professionally engaged supportive programme. It believes social education is the key to tackling many of the social, economic and environmental problems facing people in the developing world.
The approach taken by Wingspread International is not only to enhance material benefits but also to promote values such as group independence, stimulating and encouraging people to analyse local problems and find solutions through group solidarity to achieve project goals. The ultimate goal of the organisation is to empower communities to reverse rangeland and environmental degradation and restore biodiversity in the areas in which they live. Its activities embrace ecological issues and social concerns and were designed to show participants that environmental issues were a multiple constituent and that human well-being was central to sound long-term environmental sustainability. It is for this reason that our environmental work at community level must be informed and integrated into the wider global context.
Our priority area of work is eastern Chad, with particular emphasis on the Ouaddai province in which the current conflict affects a significant number of refugees who have come to the area. Chad is one of Africa's forgotten countries. It is landlocked, has a population of 6 million and, like Sudan and Nigeria, contains two cultures. The south is African, Christian and animist, while the north is Arabic and Islamic. While there has been a tendency by governments and the international community to view Africa in terms of separate countries such as Sudan, Chad and Nigeria, it must be remembered that many of the borders and frontiers date back to colonial days. Colonial politics continue to dictate some of the international community's decisions on Africa. The conflict in Sudan, which now affects the lives of millions of people in Chad, is not simply a Sudanese or an African problem, it is a problem of the Middle East. It is often forgotten that, like Egypt, Sudan is part of the Middle East and should be viewed in the context of the situation in that region.
Most Arab countries have low productivity and high birth rates and morale is very low. In Chad, Islam is in crisis and militant Islam has begun to spread from Sudan. The preaching in the mosques has become more aggressive and people have become more aggressive towards westerners in general. Sudan has a militant Islamic Government, which operates on both sides of the fence by supporting Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda while playing the game with western governments.
There has been an increase in Wahhabi teaching in Chad. Wahhabism spread from Saudi Arabia, across Sudan and into Chad and it teaches that a cosmic war is in progress against western, Christian societies. If one is a good Muslim living in Ireland or any other country and one wishes one's children to receive a good Muslim education, one will find that most Islamic schools and mosques are funded from Saudi Arabia. The teachings one's children will receive in such a school will be Wahhabi. Such funding arrangements have a direct bearing on the conflict in Sudan and the situation in Chad.
While Chad already faces environmental and political problems, a third problem has come into the equation in the form of oil. The latter was recently discovered in the Darfur region, not just along the Sudanese border but inside Chad. This has stirred the pot immensely. A company called ABCO, 30% of which is owned by the Sudanese Government and 37% of which is owned by a Swiss company, Clivenden, has just begun to drill in Darfur. The Sudanese Government's scorched earth policy, whereby it burns down villages and drives communities into Chad, is a direct attempt by the Khartoum Administration to control the Darfur region. The conflict in Chad is being exacerbated by the fact that the Zaghawa ethnic group, to which President Idriss Déby belongs, is also involved in the power struggle. The position of President Déby is very fragile following the recent attempted coup d’etat in N’Djamena, where the rebels were supplied with arms by the Sudanese Government.
President Idriss Déby stated that if the Sudanese Government does not curtail the activities of the Janjaweed militia along the border he will begin expelling all refugees from Chad by the end of June. Recently French fighter planes fired a number of shots at the rebels advancing on N'Djamena. The French Government stated it was a political signal to warn the rebels that it might not take a back seat in the conflict.
The other problem facing Chad is environmental. Care of the environment is very low on the international agenda. Wingspread International has been involved for a number of years with the United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification. Members of the organisation have been on the Irish official delegation to the UN convention. Environmental problems in the eastern Chad region are getting out of hand. Land degradation extends 50 miles around the refugee camps. We had to close down Wingspread International's rural development project because people were chopping down trees. The wells have been closed. Little or no crops were sown this year in the Ouaddai region because locals go to refugee camps for food and medical treatment, which is free. With the large influx of refugees, there is growing resentment among the Ouaddai population that refugees are being treated better than they are. The local communities groups are now fighting with the refugees over the limited natural resources in the area.
The Irish Government has shown little interest in Chad, perhaps because it is a former French colony and the language is French. However, Wingspread International encourages the Government to formulate a policy on North Africa as a whole, rather than concentrating on countries such as Sudan and Kenya which are Anglophone. Land degradation and desertification in the Ouaddai province is a very serious problem. The interaction of human activity, the natural environment and other factors causes land degradation and desertification which leads to poverty. There are more than 250,000 refugees in Chad and the number is set to grow.
A number of key actions could be taken by the Government, not just in respect of Chad but also in terms of the region as a whole. The Government could take a more people-centred approach to developing the drylands rather than giving undue attention to environmental crises. In the context of the United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification, many of the decisions involve crisis management. The militarist language of the convention, which talks about combating desertification, is being used to draw aid from governments. A more people-centred approach by governments is necessary in dealing with people on the ground. In the end, the conflict in the region is not only about oil and power politics. It is about people. Will the Sudanese and other governments involved in the conflict adhere to the peace agreement that has been signed? Over the past 30 years the genocide on the part of the Sudanese militia against people in the south has been carried out largely unnoticed by the international community.
I will finish on that note and thank the committee again for the opportunity to make this presentation.
