January 8, 2006: Sudan is now blaming violence along the Chad border on Chadian army patrols crossing the border, or Chad rebel groups doing the same to attack Chad. The Chadians deny everything. The region has a wild west flavor to it, with lots of guys with guns, riding around on horses, camels or in pickup trucks.

January 6, 2006:The government says Sudanese militiamen crossed the border and made three attacks that left nine Chadians dead. Sudan denies backing these militias, but some of these thugs do get government support, or at least no attempts by the Sudanese government to stop the violence.

January 6, 2006: The World Bank is suspending all loans to Chad because Chad passed a law eliminating a special fund, where a portion of oil revenue is placed for future economic development. Chad wants to spend that money now on weapons and goodies for politicians. Chad agreed to the special fund in 1999, as a condition for getting a $4.1 billion loan to build an essential oil pipeline. Now the oil is moving and Chadian politicians are getting greedy. Chad needs those loans, and is making a lot of noise to try and get them back. There is about $124 million that is being held up.

January 4, 2006:The UN has pulled some of its aid personnel from the Sudanese side of the Chad-Sudan border. This is because of the growing unrest, and violence, in the area.

December 31, 2005: Eight different rebel groups have now announced joining forces to overthrow the government of Chad. All of the groups are based in eastern Chad, near the Sudanese border, and are either unhappy with the corrupt Chadian government, or the lack of Chadian efforts to stop the attacks on related tribes in Sudan. The eight rebel groups can be more accurately thought of as eight gangs. The total number of rebels involved probably does not exceed a few thousand gunmen.