Chad: Democratisation Challenges and Limits of International Intervention

International interventions in Chad, such as the European Eufor Chad, must address structural problems linked to governance and democracy by helping Chadian political actors to reform the country’s social contract instead of focusing on preserving stability and, thus, becoming part of the problem and not of the solution. At the beginning of February 2008 a coalition of armed movements launched an attack on the Chadian capital N’Djamena from their Sudanese base and almost toppled the government of President Deby. The spectacular rebel offensive did not only take the Chadian government by surprise but also put the French military under enormous pressure. Their initial hesitation to support the Chadian army according to bilateral military agreements between the two countries was due to their concern not to jeopardise the neutrality of the Eufor, the European Force that, by that time, was supposed to be deployed in eastern Chad and the Central African Republic. Finally, backed by strong international support, the French military provided the Chadian army with the necessary intelligence and logistic tools to repulse the rebel assault. With these new developments, Deby’s grip on power seems consolidated for the next few years. But are the prospects for peace also consolidated in Chad?; will President Deby transform his military victory into a more participative and inclusive ruling style?; and are international interventions contributing to structural stability in a particularly turbulent region? These are some of the questions this ARI attempts to address with the aim of shedding some light on the complexities of Chad’s political crisis. It argues that in order to avoid being part of the problem, international interventions should aim to address the challenges linked to a failed democratisation by helping Chadian political actors to reform the country’s social contract. Otherwise, well-intentioned and expensive peacekeeping operations will not achieve more than symbolic goals