As we drove to Gourcy on Saturday afternoon, we listened to Radio France Info as long as we could keep the signal. The updates from N'djamena reported an evacuation, then the evacuation was cancelled, then it was back on again. The rebels held the city, but then, no, it was the government claiming victory.
As amazing as Gourcy was, we didn't get any news up there-at least, not of the international variety. It was an amazing visit and merits at least two long posts, which are forthcoming- probably later today.
Anyway, we got home late last night and I couldn't even get on the internet. Server down.
But early this morning, there was plenty of news to be had. Our friends are probably in Gabon, as most of the French and US expats have been evacuated to Libreville. RFI also broadcast an interview from there this morning. One of the French evacuees tells of how the group spent five hours laying on the floor of the airport terminal as the French Army exchanged fire with the rebels.
Hopefully, our friends Anne, Aygline and Daniel are with this group, safe and now getting ready to go to France.
Here's an excerpt from the latest news, published just minutes ago:

Chad rebels 'pushed from capital'

Witnesses reported heavy fighting in the capital on Sunday

Rebels seeking to overthrow Chad's president have been driven out of the capital, the government has said.

The rebels say they have made a strategic withdrawal to the eastern edge of N'Djamena, after entering the city over the weekend.

Aid agencies have reported many dead bodies on the streets and hundreds being treated in hospitals.

The Chadian government said it had quashed the rebellion.

"The whole of N'Djamena is under control and these mercenaries in the pay of Sudan have been scattered," Interior Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bachir told French radio RFI.

"The sun has gone down now, but the pursuit will continue tomorrow."

But rebel leaders said they were giving civilians a chance to flee before launching another offensive.

Chadian rebels seized control of large parts of the capital on Saturday, approaching the palace where President Idriss Deby was holding out.

On Sunday, fierce fighting in the capital continued. Rebels were reported to have stormed the national radio offices before looters ransacked the building.

N'Djamena's main market was also looted and torched after being hit by a missile, witnesses told AFP news agency.

Hundreds of foreigners, many of them French, have been evacuated to Gabon in central Africa.

You can read all of it from the BBC here.

Now I know why my friends in Chad haven't answered my e-mail. They have probably been evacuated to the French-run high school that is (thankfully) near their home.
I just figured this out as I checked today's news before packing my bag for the Gourcy excursion. After complaining recently that it's hard to get news about Chad, I was today confronted with two big headlines when I opened up my iGoogle news page.
The BBC said "Chad Rebels Fight Inside Capital".

USA Today said:
Chad rebels enter capital

Updated 1h 6m ago |

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Hundreds of rebels penetrated the capital of Chad on Saturday, clashing with government troops and moving on the presidential palace after a three-day advance through the central African nation, officials and witnesses said.
Col. Thierry Burkhard, a French military spokesman, said groups of rebels gathered outside the capital, N'Djamena, overnight before 1,000-1,500 fighters entered early Saturday and spread through the city.

A leader of Chad's main opposition alliance, which is unarmed and not associated with the rebels, said shooting erupted after rebels entered the city around 8 a.m. but appeared to die down about two hours later. Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh said about 12:45 p.m. that there were no soldiers in his neighborhood and state radio had gone off the air.

"At the moment we are not hearing any firing ... The rebels are in the city. Civilians are in the streets. They are watching what is happening," said Saleh.

The French and American governments had told their citizens to assemble in secure locations as witnesses reported looting, gunfire and explosions near government buildings
France's embassy in Chad sent messages over Radio France Internationale to tell citizens to head to the Lycee Francais high school and two other locations in N'Djamena a French diplomatic official said on condition of anonymity because government policy barred him from providing his name
The U.S. Embassy said in a bulletin on its website that any American citizens seeking evacuation should immediately move to the embassy. State Department spokesman Karl Duckworth said the embassy had authorized the departure of non-essential personnel and family members.

Read the rest of the story here

Yesterday I finally received a Christmas card from some friends living in N'Djamena. (Chad isn't all that far away from Burkina, but it took about a month to get here!) And yesterday's e-mails included one from a pal living in Canada- someone who lived in Chad with her family before moving to Burkina and then finally back to Alberta. So, Chad was definitely on my mind this morning when JP came into my office and told me that he had just heard on RFI (Radio France Info) that things in D'jamena are quite bad. Schools are shut and the city is locked down. He heard that UFDD rebels are again in the capital ( just like last April when the government forces had to fight them off)
Most people know at least a bit about the situation in Sudan, but many(in the US, anyway) don't realise that there are serious problems in their neighbor to the west. Chad's unpopular dictator/president is under pressure from rebel groups- groups that the government claims are created by and are tools of Sudan. Right. It's impossible that his own people could just be unhappy with his tyrannical, single-party rule.
A joint statement released Tuesday by some human rights associations and the largest trade-union group in the country recently denounced « the return to dictatorship in Chad. » The manager of FM Liberté radio was arrested recently for refusing to let the police to monitor all news read on the radio station and for " allowing the leader of the Liberal Party of Chad to denounce the anti-Sudanese demonstrations in N’djamena. The ruling party organised the demonstrations, accusing the Sudanese authorities of supporting the rebels hostile to President Idriss Deby Itno." You can read about it here.
Anyway, all this is going on and not a word about it could I find on my iGoogle headlines this morning. I have it set to show me: Reuters, CNN, BBC, MSNBC, Fox, New York Times, NPR, USA Today....Nothing obscure or specialised. I use it to give me an idea of what the "rest of the world" is hearing about. And nobody seems to be getting much info about Chad. At least Kenya's plight is getting good media coverage.
I am just hoping that Anne and her family are safe. I have sent her an e-mail, but I have no idea if she'll be able to access it.
Blogger is threatening a "scheduled outage". Don't know when I'll be back.

I've been really sick. I would have sworn it was Ebola, but as I didn't hemorrhage out of every bodily orifice and die, I guess it wasn't that. It was more of a sinus infection - bronchitis- fever thing. I had completely lost the will to live by Monday and Tuesday, but rallied on Wednesday, as I regained the ability to read. My headache had been so bad that I couldn't pick a book for days, which is horrible for me. But yesterday I got all the way through "The African Queen". Like most people, I've seen the old Hepburn movie, but I had no idea that it was orinially a novel. It's a funny old relic, well-worth a read. It's very different from the film- much better, as is usually the case.
But enough of that. How about some pictures? Everybody likes pictures? Right?
Last Friday, just before I got ill, we had some friends visiting from Chad. They were on vacation in Ouaga, to relax and do some shopping, which tells you just how bad N'Djamena must be. Anyplace that makes Ouaga in the hot season look good has to be pretty scary. In fact, they had been evacuated to France just before Christmas, as rebel forces approached the city. They're back now, but not exactly at ease. So, they came back to Burkina for a break to see their old friends. One thing on their to-do list was shopping. So, I took them to the local mall.

Hey, you can't get great shopping like THIS back in Chad! Anne was looking for buckets made out of old tin cans. The twins helped her hunt around.

Nearby the recycled metal goods was a huge area of the market devoted to "traditional medicine". The practioners are people who get called "witch doctors" in old novels like "The African Queen". The stands are piled with stringy bones, ashy powders, dried animal parts and skins, and all kinds of indescribable stuff. I managed to take one picture in one of the more quiet corners of the market. It's not one of the more impressive stands, but it gives an idea.

The thought now occurs to me that I was seen taking that picture and the owner of the stand put some kind of wack on me as punishment.