Chad imposed a crackdown on illegal firearms today as a state of emergency took effect to curb ethnic violence that has killed hundreds of people and fuelled calls to send international peacekeepers to the region.
Chad's government imposed a state of emergency from midnight on Monday across large swathes of the central African country, including eastern zones where attacks on villages by armed raiders on horseback this month have killed hundreds.
African Union chairman Denis Sassou Nguesso, president of nearby Congo Republic, joined a chorus of demands for a UN force to protect civilians in Chad and Central African Republic from violence spilling over from Sudan's Darfur region.
"We agree with the idea of sending UN troops to ensure security on the borders of Chad and Central African Republic," he said in Paris after meeting French President Jacques Chirac. Jean-Marie Guehenno, the UN undersecretary-general in charge of peacekeeping, is to visit both countries next week.
Sudan resolutely refuses a UN force in Darfur. Guehenno told the Security Council Chad's government had written saying it did not wish to be used as a rear base for "international intervention" in Darfur, even for a UN operation.
The November 7th letter suggested the United Nations could support Chad through deployment of an "international civilian force, composed of gendarmes (paramilitary police) from African countries selected by Chad, in order to secure refugee camps", Guehenno said, according to speaking notes obtained by Reuters.