Fluid Loyalties in a Regional Crisis: Chadian 'Ex-Liberators' in the Central African Republic |
| |
| Authors: | Debos Marielle |
| |
| Affiliation: | Marielle Debos (marielle.debos{at}sciences-po.org) is a PhD candidate at Sciences Po/CERI (France). She lectures in Political Science at the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. This article is an updated version of a research paper commissioned by the Social Science Research Council (Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum) in February 2007. It is a contribution to a research programme on the transformations of war sponsored by the French National Agency for Research. This analysis is based on ten months of fieldwork in Chad carried out between September 2004 and September 2006. The author would like to thank Roland Marchal and the anonymous reviewer of African Affairs for their useful comments, as well as COOPI and Pierre Romba for their precious assistance during her fieldwork at the Chad–CAR border. |
| |
| Abstract: | ![]()
This article examines a neglected pattern of the regional crisisin Darfur, Chad, and the Central African Republic: the cross-borderactivities of combatants with fluid loyalties. The trajectoriesof Chadian ex-liberators in CAR, which have beenlittle documented, are used to illustrate the regional movementsof armed men. The article explains how unemployed Chadian soldierswere recruited to fight with François Bozizé inCAR and why many of them joined other armed groups after Bozizé'stakeover. The reconversions of armed combatants, who may easilyshift allegiance and cross borders to carry on with their politico-militarycareers, is thus a structural characteristic of the currentconflict, which has major implications both at the local andtransnational levels. The article concludes that freelance militaryentrepreneurs trajectories are crucial in understandingthe unfolding of this regional crisis. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 Oxford 等数据库收录！ |
|
