The intermission is over.

And so it begins.

Elizabeth called me last night after I cancelled our dinner plans, and I answered thinking she was intent on rubbing in just how good the curry she cooked was. Instead she informed me that rumors were flying that Goz Beida had been overrun by Chadian Rebel forces, a new conglomerate of old separate groups, now known as UFDD (United Front for Democracy and Development). She new we were supposed to fly to Goz Beida in the morning, so it was welcome info.

I hung up and between Myriam, Georgiana (our new base manager), and I, we began investigating. Immediately we ran into the UNHCR roadblock.

“Hello?”
“Hello. This is AirServ. As you know we are scheduled to fly to Goz Beida tomorrow, and we have heard there were events that took place today that could jeopardize our safety and security tomorrow. Can you confirm or deny?”
“…(long pause—thinking of how to best answer as vaguely and ridiculously as possible)…we have no information for you at this time. If information becomes available we will inform you. Thank you.” Click.
“FUCK STICK”

The red flag is up folks…somethings a happenin!

Further investigation revealed there was in fact an emergency meeting taking place and it was being debated just how to break the news to the children (the rest of us NGO workers out here).

As we all sat out on the porch talking sporadic automatic weapon fire was heard nearby. Our guards seemed on edge, the monkey sat atop the roof sentinel like, providing incoherent and squeaky reports in Monkeyic (official language of most monkeys), and I sipped a whisky and coke. After sunset Myriam and I sat marveling at the Milky Way’s cloudy expanse waiting for more information to come our way. Three heavenly bound rockets shot off from somewhere in town, trailing a red afterglow as they made their ascent to quickly join the stars twinkling above. The gunfire and rockets were isolated cases, and ended soon thereafter.

A messenger arrived from the UNHCR and the news about Goz Beida was confirmed, seems the war is back on.

As they predicted: end of Ramadan=end of light military action. I cannot say =end of peace…because there is never peace here. Its like the US Postal service in its consistency. Rain, sleet, snow or sun…we’ll fight, though sometimes we’ll tone it down a bit so we may observe religious holidays.

For its part, the new UFDD has publicly stated that NGOs and UN workers are not a target. They have requested that all humanitarians stay inside their compounds where they will be safe, as only Chadian military garrisons and bases are the enemy. This being said, witnesses have reported that in the refugee camps nearby Goz Beida government military personnel have been seen changing into civilian clothing and hiding amongst the refugees.

“One can make this generalization about men: they are ungrateful, fickle, liars and deceivers…they would shed their blood for you, risk their property, their lives, their sons, so long as…danger is remote; but when you are in danger they turn away”
--Niccolo Machiavelli

Can I blame them for being cowards? To an extent, but it has its limits. What I cannot blame them for is not wanting to die for the materialistic good of one man, a greedy, exponentially more fickle, seemingly heartless fiend, or his wealthy entourage (I will draw no parallels). If its due, I hope Karma will even the score.

In the meantime we sit idly by here in Abeche. Waiting for word to evacuate someone, something or someplace, and waiting to see what the week brings. Speculation is everywhere, and everyone has an opinion as to what happens next. Abeche? Who knows. For our part we’ll start stocking up on food, water and beer.