With the Darfur genocide having spilled into neighbouring Chad, the United Nations needs to act fast and put in place a peacekeeping force to provide security among terror-stricken people.

The Janjaweed who have left a trail of death and terror in Darfur region of Sudan, are now fast turning eastern Chad into killing fields. The situation is in dire straits. Many villagers have been displaced more than once. In the face of deadly attacks, the people have moved into bigger settlements such as Koloy and Djawara, hoping that some semblance of an administrative presence would provide them with better security.

The UN Security Council has voiced concern over the deteriorating situation in Chad ‘as a consequence of the influx of refugees from Darfur.’

Why is this happening?

The situation in Chad, the fifth poorest nation on earth, has serious implications for Darfur and beyond. Chad has all the makings of the next powder barrel to blow- reason being,

* A multitude of brazen militia groups.

* A power-drunk president with unsettling ties to both the U.S. government and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

* Chad shares a long, porous border with Darfur with its reluctant role as mediator in the Darfur conflict that has heightened insecurity in the region.

Add to all of this the fact that Chad has become a fertile recruiting ground for Islamist fighters and it becomes clear that the situation in Chad is as dangerous as it is obscure. Chad and Darfur people die everyday after poverty and violent attacks, and the Bush administration keeps throwing gasoline on the flames by granting military assistance to the perpetrators of genocide.

What should be done?

* Dealing with Darfur and Chad separately is counterproductive, so too is dividing up responsibility for refugees and displaced persons among UN agencies. It is essential that the United States becomes fully engaged in efforts to end the violence in Chad and establish conditions for stability throughout the region.

* Moreover, the international community indeed has a stake, for the transnational element of the Chadian drama may prove even more troubling than the domestic. Given the soured relations between Libya and Chad and a worst case scenario could bring Libya into this conflict. Still, the international community should seize the moment to ensure that a deadly struggle for power does not leave a vacuum that swallows the nation.

* In Chad, the UN, with strong U.S. leadership, as well as the African Union should make a genuine effort to mediate among the rebel groups and the government to avoid another civil war that could quickly become regional. The United States cannot delay its efforts, given that American oil business has a lot to lose.

The tense political situation existing between Sudan and Chad is a significant obstacle to humanitarian assistance in the region. With smart maneuvers on the diplomatic front, a crisis exponentially more explosive than the current appalling atrocities in the Chadian region can be averted.