Written by Armel Ramadji

According to news we have been receiving from Chad and relayed by different other media outlets, the complicity of the Chadian regime in the “smuggling/kidnapping/stealing” of the 103 children is becoming clearer. The short version is that Chadian officials at different level knew about the activities of the organization. Even General Idriss Deby Itno, the ruler of Chad met with the leaders of the Zoe’s Ark last September in one of his private home in N’Djamena, Chad. Therefore, all the emotions displayed by Deby himself and all his ministers around this case are just meant to fool the opinion once again. They have been behaving like people who have just discovered the plans of the French NGO. That’s just not true. They knew about the whole thing. Coming out with crocodile tears and crying fool is just another big comedy the Chadian regime has used people to.

After a phone conversation with President Sarkozy of France who pleaded for the release of the three journalists and a “presumption of innocence” for the rest of the group and their transfer before French courts, General Idriss Deby Itno agreed yesterday, October 31, 2007 to back down and let the heat of the recent days cool off. In effect, he has accepted to let the 17 Europeans go. Why on earth would he do that, he who shed tears in Abeche a few days ago, talking about a “pedophilia”, “organ harvesting” and what not? It’s a little shocking and surprising to see him and his regime stop the process of having the accused prosecuted in Chad. Well, the truth is that General Idriss Deby Itno, who loves to exploit tragedies like he has been doing in the Darfur for the last 5 years, has realized that allowing the group of Europeans to be prosecuted in Chad could be trouble for his regime for the two main reasons below:

First of, putting Westerner journalists on trial in Chad would mean inviting the entire world press to come and look in his closets. That would open the eyes of the international press on the true nature of his vicious regime. He and his crew of thugs will be put under scrutiny for all their crimes and it could be big trouble for them. Therefore, after thinking about that, Deby Itno has decided to accept to let the group be transferred to France.

The second and the most important reason is that six months ago, the President of the Zoe’s Ark, Eric Breteau, met General Idriss Deby Itno who instructed his Interior Minister to “facilitate” the mission of the NGO. It was equipped with an “Authorization to circulate and investigate for caring for children” from Chadian officials that Ark of Zoe began its work near the Sudanese border. And the NGO has never crossed the border. So, the truth of the matter is almost everyone at the official level in Chad was well aware of the activities of the Ark. Therefore, if the organization is found guilty of attempting to smuggle Chadian children out of the country, it will be with the cooperation and complicity of Chadian authorities because both the Interior Minister, Mr. Ahmat Bashir, the Mayor, the Sous-Prefet of Tine…were fully available to NGO.

At RAMADJI.com, we were very suspicious, right from the beginning, of the allegations of the Chadian regime which claimed to be “totally ignorant” of this operation. It’s impossible for such an operation requiring a lot of paperwork and logistics to take place in Deby’s Chad without the knowing of the authorities and the notorious National Security Agency, the secret police of the regime. It’s also impossible for a Boeing 757 to be flown in the Chadian aerial space without an authorization, a flight plan approved by Chadian authorities at the highest level and a clear justification of the mission. We knew that Deby’s tears were just a big joke destined for the consumptions of the gullible who believe he is an angel. He is not.

Deby and his government are full of it as the details of the operation are unfolding everyday that passes. The same Deby Itno who was crying like a baby because Chadian children were being “smuggled” out of the country “without the knowledge” of his regime has been using and abusing children for years now. The most recent cases are his use of Child soldiers in his army. This problem has been reported by numerous sources including the Chadian independent press. An in-depth and well documented work done by Human Rights Watch along the Chad-Sudan border and titled “Early to War” describes the phenomenon of Child soldiers and the crimes of the Chadian government. Children are being recruited and enrolled in the different units of the Chadian Army to fight against the different rebellions the corrupt regime in place in N’Djamena is confronted with. Many of those kids have been killed during the fighting or wounded or captured. This situation has been going on for years now. The French Army stationed in Chad has a lot of explaining to do regarding this issue because we are just learning that they used their planes to move a group of those children to the combat areas according to a confidential source that talked to us. Where is the France, land of human rights and what not? This is so disgusting and shameful for the French government who preach something and always do its opposite.

Deby and his crew of cheer leaders are crying fool today and blasting the French NGO for wrong-doing and illegal activities vis-à-vis Chadian children. But let’s be honest. What have they ( Deby and his team) been doing for the last 18 years to create a better, a peaceful, a secure, an livable environment for Chadian children and youth? They have been doing nothing that I know of. Instead, they’ve been wasting all the resources which could have been used to ease the sufferings of Chadians into buying weapons, waging wars, building palaces, marrying numerous wives,…living an insulting opulent life when millions of Chadians live with less than a dollar per day. Maybe the French NGO committed a crime against Chadian and Humanitarian laws but the Chadian dictator and his crew haven’t been doing any better either. Maybe Zoe’s Ark violated rules and procedures but General Deby Itno is the wrong person to be talking about the sufferings of Chadian children because we know his track record on that matter. He is just a big joke and he knows it himself. The show he has been putting on is for the consumption of those who really don’t know him

As mentioned in the lines above, with this Zoe’s Ark and the established implication of the French military in the operation, we are also learning for the first time that sometimes between 2006 and the beginning of 2007, in the middle of the fighting between Chadian rebels and the National Chadian Army (ANT), the French army transported Chadian child soldiers to the front line, in Eastern Chad, using French airplanes. It’s unbelievable but the news is coming from a very credible source which required to be kept anonymous for obvious security reasons. That act’s coming from the same France that claims to be the “mother of Human Rights”. Nobody has talked about this side of the Child soldiers’ problem and the French involvement in transporting those kids to be killed in the battles in Eastern Chad. It was kept secret so far but we thought that it’s very important to break the news so that these sorts of crimes never happen again under our watch. This time, in this Zoe’s Ark, the same French army transported the leaders of the organizations at least twice aboard their military jets from the Chadian capital to the town of Abeche in Eastern Chad.

This shows that the complicity exists at different levels in this exploitation of Chadian children. The French and the Chadians authorities are just full of it and are just trying to cover themselves with their shameful and repugnant behaviors. It’s against international laws to knowingly use children in wars. It’s against international laws to “smuggle” children or exploit them. The Chadian regime, France and the Zoe’s Ark are all accomplices in whatever is happening to Chadian children today and one day, they will be accountable before history for their crimes.