January 15, 2010: Discussions with Sudan have resulted in yet another peace agreement. But there is no peace. Bandits, some of them part-time rebels (on one side of the border or another). The bandits are growing more aggressive, sometimes opening fire on aid workers, or kidnapping them. If the aid organizations pull out, they take their goodies with them. Both the starving refugees, and the bandits suffer. But most bandits don't pay attention to logic, just the next opportunity to plunder.

The European peacekeepers are leaving, and many Chadians and relief workers won't miss them. That's because peacekeepers were rarely seen out and about. Instead, the peacekeepers spent most of their time in their camps. No one is doing much to try and establish law and order along the Sudan border.

January 11, 2010:  The mayor of the capital, and an aide, were arrested for corruption. This is part of an energetic anti-corruption campaign, which has rounded up a dozen or so of the more blatant offenders. The worst cases, among senior officials, have not been touched.

January 4, 2010: Troops captured Djibrine Dassert, one of the leaders of the MDJT (Movement for Democracy and Justice) rebels, and 20 of his followers. The arrest was not announced for ten days. The MDJT has been skirmishing with the government since 1998, in the far north, along the Libyan border. MDJT earned some gratitude from the United States by chasing down Islamic terrorists who tried to cross through MDJT controlled territory. Neither the hundred or so MDJT members, nor several other tiny rebel groups, are strong enough to bring down the government. But the government has never been strong enough to take down the rebels either. The MDJT, and most other self-declared rebels, survive on banditry, shaking down relief groups and getting subsidies from foreign countries (Sudan, Libya, or anyone who wants to mess with Chad.)