The Sudan Handbook

260 thE sudan handbook

and used the time-honoured practice of starting from Darfur in a second

attack in February 2008. This one also failed because the French helped

Déby by buying ammunition from Gadaffi for his Soviet era T-55 tanks.

The tanks wiped out the rebels’ Toyotas.

In return, Déby supported the JEM, the Darfur rebel group also led by

a Zaghawa, Khalil Ibrahim, against the Sudanese regime. In May 2008

Khalil and his men attacked Khartoum in a daring raid from Darfur

across the width of Sudan. Although the attack was repulsed it put the

regime in Khartoum on the defensive; it provided further support to

attacks by anti-Déby rebels in Chad. By early 2010, though, diplomatic

engagement had improved. What finally – or perhaps only temporarily –

brought these ongoing retaliations to a halt was the self-determination

referendum in Southern Sudan. Feeling overwhelmed at the prospect

of a possible conflict on two fronts, Khartoum decided to mend fences

with Chad. President Déby cut off his support for the JEM while the

Sudanese regime stopped helping the Chadian rebels. Khartoum used

this window of opportunity to renew its attacks on the Darfur rebels. It

is clear, though, that this improvement in relations between N’Djamena

and Khartoum is mostly tactical and might not survive a more general

conflagration in Sudan.

The Central African Republic

The Central African Republic (CAR) is the neighbouring country with

which Sudan has had least relations. This is due both to its colonial

history as a French possession, bordering the British colonial realm in

Sudan and the fact that the border area between the two countries – arid,

virtually unpopulated and a region of high tsetse fly infestation – is one

of the most inhospitable areas in the African continent. This has turned

it into a political wilderness where rebels of all kinds find easy shelter:

the control of the Bangui government does not extend more than a few

kilometres outside the capital. The scant local population in this border

area is made up mainly of nomads, smugglers and bandits known locally

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors as zaraguina or, in French, as coupeurs de route (road cutters). Recently

(www.riftvalley.net).