Chadian Prime Minister Yoadimnadji Dies

Friday February 23, 2007 12:16 PM

PARIS (AP) - Chadian Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimnadji died Friday at a Paris hospital following a brain hemorrhage, the African nation's ambassador to France said. He was 56.

Yoadimnadji died shortly after midnight at Val de Grace military hospital in Paris. He had been evacuated to France on Wednesday after falling ill and slipping into a coma in Chad, Ambassador Moukhtar Wawa Dahab told The Associated Press.

His wife, who accompanied Yoadimnadji to Paris, will repatriate his body to Chad, the ambassador said. He said they had no children.

``On Wednesday, he felt ill. He fell into a coma,'' he said. He added that Yoadimnadji received medical attention in Chad before being evacuated on an ambulance plane.

Chadian President Idriss Deby appointed Yoadimnadji, a lawyer, as head of government in 2005. He replaced Moussa Faki Mahamat, who had resigned.

Deby seized power in a 1990 coup. Chadian rebels aiming to topple him have clashed sporadically with government forces since 2005. The competition for power in the central African nation has become more intense since Chad began exporting oil in 2003. In April 2006, a rebel group reached the capital, N'djamena, before it was crushed by government forces.

There are fears Chad's conflict is being worsened by a spillover of violence from Sudan's western region of Darfur.

Yoadimnadji had served in several government posts, including as agriculture minister. In 1996, he directed the Independent National Electoral Commission for the country's first multi-party elections. He also presided over the country's Constitutional Council, which judges whether laws are constitutional.

``The prime minister was a great statesman,'' said Chad's Foreign Minister Ahmad Allam Mi. ``He was also a great unifier of the Chadian people.''

FRANCE BOMBING NEAR DARFUR: No U.S. Coverage

Dec 18, 2006

My friend Netta remarked to me this morning that there isn't any U.S. Media coverage of France's military support of the CAR army near Darfur, a force that is feared responsible for rapes and executions in the region:

In the past two weeks, with minimal publicity, [French] Mirage F1 jets have attacked and scattered a rebellion in north-eastern Central African Republic (CAR). But reports from the ground say the operation has had a devastating impact on civilians.

(Emphasis Mine)

According to the UFDR, the raids over several days at the start of December included an attack on Birao with six Mirage F1 fighters and four helicopter gunships. It claims the attack forced thousands of civilians to flee towards Darfur and southern Chad.

A French armed forces spokesman yesterday refused to give details of whether bombs, missiles or machinegun-fire had been used by the jets.

[...]

Nganatouwa Goungaye Wanfiyo, president of the Central African Human Rights League, said France's intervention on the side of the CAR army had been out of all proportion and may have increased the risk of a Darfur-style ethnic conflict. "They have just delayed the problem and worsened it. The opposition wants dialogue with Bozizé, that's all."

(All emphasis mine) The situation in Darfur isn't emphasized adequately in general, but for this development to not be reported at all among major MSM sources like CNN & MSNBC is concerning. If someone can post downthread the best contact e-mails for various news outlets, perhaps we can get this broad attention within our national media.

--By Skyterrain

U.N. chief: Darfur is in ‘free fall‘": Conflict has spread to two neighboring countries

2006/12

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago

UNITED NATIONS - The conflict in Darfur has spread to two neighboring countries and is now in "free fall" with six million people facing the prospect of going without food or protection, the outgoing U.N. humanitarian chief said Tuesday.

"I think some of the Arab countries and Asian countries have not really understood we‘re in a free fall. It‘s not a steady deterioration. It‘s a free fall and it includes Darfur, eastern Chad, northern Central African Republic," he said.

More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in the fighting, and the violence has only increased since the government and one rebel group signed a peace agreement in May.

Egeland, who was the first to call Darfur the world‘s worst humanitarian emergency in November 2003, said that one of his greatest regrets is that key global leaders did not come together and offer the sticks and carrots to settle the conflict in 2004 when it only involved one million people.

Where is the free fall going?

Egeland recalled that the women and children he met during his recent fourth visit to Darfur thanked him for the food but pleaded for security. With the humanitarian operation collapsing in many places, he said, they will have nothing.

In a farewell speech on Monday to the U.N. Security Council U.N. Security Council, Egeland accused world leaders of failing to live up to a pledge made at a U.N. summit in September 2005 to protect civilians caught in armed conflict from genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing. A Security Council resolution adopted in April reaffirmed their agreement.

"But what I do expect is that China, the United States, Russia, the European Union — the leaders come together and say we‘re going to push and pull and provide sticks and carrots until it changes," he said.

Nonetheless, he said, things are starting to change.

The Security Council adopted a resolution pushed by Britain and the United States to transfer peacekeeping in Darfur from an ill-equipped 7,000-member African Union force to a larger, better equipped U.N. force. But the Sudanese government rejected a U.N. force, claiming it would violate the country‘s sovereignty and was an attempt at recolonization.

He supported the resolution but said it did not get implemented, partly because it lacked support from African, Arab and Islamic countries for a U.N. force.

In late November, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Sudan had agreed in principle to a compromise "hybrid mission" from the African Union and the U.N. — but Khartoum wanted to discuss the size, the force commander and the head of the overall mission.

"At the moment I think it‘s more than sad to see that grown men with jackets and ties like me sit and quarrel of what is a

hybrid force‘ ... while women and children are dying," Egeland said.

"I‘m happy to note that in nine months we might have this force, but what about the next nine days where it could collapse completely?

© 2006 The Associated Press.