N’DJAMENA: Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) were at loggerheads on Monday after the Chadian government accused its southern neighbor of killing six of its soldiers at a border post, five of whom were allegedly abducted and then executed, branding it a “war crime” that would “not go unpunished.”
Hours after the accusation, the CAR said there had been “exchanges of fire... at the border,” with fatalities on both sides.
Expressing regret for the deaths, It put the blame on rebels that it said its soldiers had been pursuing and suggested Chad and the CAR — “two brotherly peoples” — hold a joint investigation.
The incident has placed the spotlight on the occasionally fraught relations between Chad — ruled by a junta since its veteran ruler was killed six weeks ago — and the CAR, an impoverished, unstable country battling powerful armed groups.
“The Central African armed forces attacked the outpost of Sourou in Chad on Sunday morning... They killed a Chadian soldier, injured five and kidnapped five others who were then executed in Mbang on the Central African Republic side,” Chadian Foreign Minister Cherif Mahamat Zene said in a statement.
The CAR regularly accuses its northern neighbor of supporting armed rebel groups from inside Chad.
The attack came after CAR soldiers had crossed into Chadian territory in pursuit of rebels, a senior Chadian security official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The rebels were either members of the Unity for Peace in Central Africa (UPC) or the so-called 3R group, according to this source and another security source.
Both are among the CAR’s most powerful armed groups and are part of a coalition that in December mounted a bid to topple President Faustin Archange Touadera.
The Sourou outpost near the village of Mbere, which was manned by 12 soldiers, was attacked at dawn, Zene said in his statement.
This “war crime is extremely serious and this deadly attack, which was pre-meditated, planned and operated from inside Chad — for reasons known only to the Central African government — will not go unpunished,” he added.
Zene said Chad would “call the international community to bear witness” to what he branded a “serious aggression,” notably the UN’s 12,000-strong peacekeeping force in CAR, MINUSCA, as well as the African Union and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).
In Bangui, the CAR government said it “deplores the loss of human lives in the Chadian and Central African armed forces” and blamed rebels that it said its troops had been pursuing.
The statement reaffirmed CAR’s will to strengthen relations “between two brotherly peoples” and proposed setting up a joint inquiry with Chad to investigate the clashes.
UN sources in the CAR, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there had been a clash on Sunday in the market place of Mini, a Chadian village near the border.
The fighting was between CAR troops and Russian paramilitary allies on one side, and Chadian soldiers on the other, the sources said.
At least one Chadian soldier was killed and five were captured, they said, adding that both sides suffered casualties.
The anti-Touadera coalition is among the number of groups that hold large swathes of CAR’s territory.
But it has failed in its attempt to oust the president, who was re-elected in late December.
The rebels have been pushed out of large towns in recent months, in part thanks to back-up for the CAR army from hundreds of Russian paramilitary fighters thought to be from the Wagner Group, a shadowy private military company.
Chad, meanwhile, has been under junta rule since April 20 when the military announced that veteran leader Idriss Deby Itno had been killed leading troops against Chadian rebel fighters arriving from Libya.
Chad’s army is considered the most powerful in the region, and Deby’s government was a key Western ally in the fight against extremists in the volatile Sahel.
Deby’s son Mahamat, a four-star general, declared himself president after the death of his father, who had ruled Chad with an iron fist for three decades.
The junta has dissolved parliament and revoked the constitution, while promising “free and democratic” elections within an 18-month transition period.
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Chad, C.Africa at loggerheads after troops killed at border
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Chad, C.Africa at loggerheads after troops killed at border
- Chadian FM Cherif Mahamat Zene: CAR forces attacked Sourou... They killed a Chadian soldier, injured five and kidnapped five others, who were executed in Mbang on the CAR side
- Fractious relationship exists between Chad — ruled by a junta since the death of Idriss Deby Itno — and the CAR, an impoverished, unstable country battling powerful armed groups
Greenland crisis boosts Danish apps designed to identify and help boycott US goods
- Boycott campaigns are usually short-lived and real change often requires an organized effort rather than individual consumers
COPENHAGEN: The makers of mobile apps designed to help shoppers identify and boycott American goods say they saw a surge of interest in Denmark and beyond after the recent flare-up in tensions over US President Donald Trump’s designs on Greenland.
The creator of the “Made O’Meter” app, Ian Rosenfeldt, said he saw around 30,000 downloads of the free app in just three days at the height of the trans-Atlantic diplomatic crisis in late January out of more than 100,000 since it was launched in March.
Apps offer practical help
Rosenfeldt, who lives in Copenhagen and works in digital marketing, decided to create the app a year ago after joining a Facebook group of like-minded Danes hoping to boycott US goods.
“Many people were frustrated and thinking, ‘How do we actually do this in practical terms,’” the 53-year-old recalled. “If you use a bar code scanner, it’s difficult to see if a product is actually American or not, if it’s Danish or not. And if you don’t know that, you can’t really make a conscious choice.”
The latest version of “Made O’Meter” uses artificial intelligence to identify and analyze several products at a time, then recommend similar European-made alternatives. Users can set preferences, like “No USA-owned brands” or “Only EU-based brands.” The app claims over 95 percent accuracy.
“By using artificial intelligence, you can take an image of a product … and it can make a deep dive to go out and find the correct information about the product in many levels,” Rosenfeldt told The Associated Press during a demonstration at a Copenhagen grocery store. “This way, you have information that you can use to take decisions on what you think is right.”
‘Losing an ally’
After an initial surge of downloads when the app was launched, usage tailed off. Until last month, when Trump stepped up his rhetoric about the need for the US to acquire Greenland, a strategically important and mineral-rich Arctic island that is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
Usage peaked Jan. 23, when there were almost 40,000 scans in one day, compared with 500 or so daily last summer. It has dropped back since but there were still around 5,000 a day this week, said Rosenfeldt, who noted “Made O’Meter” is used by over 20,000 people in Denmark but also by people in Germany, Spain, Italy, even Venezuela.
“It’s become much more personal,” said Rosenfeldt, who spoke of “losing an ally and a friend.”
Trump announced in January he would slap new tariffs on Denmark and seven other European countries that opposed his takeover calls, only to abruptly drop his threats after he said a “framework” for a deal over access to mineral-rich Greenland was reached with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s help. Few details of that agreement have emerged.
The US began technical talks in late January to put together an Arctic security deal with Denmark and Greenland, which say sovereignty is not negotiable.
Rosenfeldt knows such boycotts won’t damage the US economy, but hopes to send a message to supermarkets and encourage greater reliance on European producers.
“Maybe we can send a signal and people will listen and we can make a change,” he added.
The protest may be largely symbolic
Another Danish app, “NonUSA,” topped 100,000 downloads at the beginning of February. One of its creators, 21-year-old Jonas Pipper, said there were over 25,000 downloads Jan. 21, when 526 product scans were performed in a minute at one point. Of the users, some 46,000 are in Denmark and around 10,000 in Germany.
“We noticed some users saying they felt like a little bit of the pressure was lifted off them,” Pipper said. “They feel like they kind of gained the power back in this situation.”
It’s questionable whether such apps will have much practical effect.
Christina Gravert, an associate professor of economics at the University of Copenhagen, said there are actually few US products on Danish grocery store shelves, “around 1 to 3 percent”. Nuts, wines and candy, for example. But there is widespread use of American technology in Denmark, from Apple iPhones to Microsoft Office tools.
“If you really want to have an impact, that’s where you should start,” she said.
Even “Made O’Meter” and “NonUSA” are downloaded from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store.
Gravert, who specializes in behavioral economics, said such boycott campaigns are usually short-lived and real change often requires an organized effort rather than individual consumers.
“It can be interesting for big supermarket brands to say, OK, we’re not going to carry these products anymore because consumers don’t want to buy them,” she said. “If you think about large companies, this might have some type of impact on the import (they) do.”
On a recent morning, shoppers leaving one Copenhagen grocery store were divided.
“We do boycott, but we don’t know all the American goods. So, it’s mostly the well-known trademarks,” said Morten Nielsen, 68, a retired navy officer. “It’s a personal feeling … we feel we do something, I know we are not doing very much.”
“I love America, I love traveling in America,” said 63-year-old retiree Charlotte Fuglsang. “I don’t think we should protest that way.”
The creator of the “Made O’Meter” app, Ian Rosenfeldt, said he saw around 30,000 downloads of the free app in just three days at the height of the trans-Atlantic diplomatic crisis in late January out of more than 100,000 since it was launched in March.
Apps offer practical help
Rosenfeldt, who lives in Copenhagen and works in digital marketing, decided to create the app a year ago after joining a Facebook group of like-minded Danes hoping to boycott US goods.
“Many people were frustrated and thinking, ‘How do we actually do this in practical terms,’” the 53-year-old recalled. “If you use a bar code scanner, it’s difficult to see if a product is actually American or not, if it’s Danish or not. And if you don’t know that, you can’t really make a conscious choice.”
The latest version of “Made O’Meter” uses artificial intelligence to identify and analyze several products at a time, then recommend similar European-made alternatives. Users can set preferences, like “No USA-owned brands” or “Only EU-based brands.” The app claims over 95 percent accuracy.
“By using artificial intelligence, you can take an image of a product … and it can make a deep dive to go out and find the correct information about the product in many levels,” Rosenfeldt told The Associated Press during a demonstration at a Copenhagen grocery store. “This way, you have information that you can use to take decisions on what you think is right.”
‘Losing an ally’
After an initial surge of downloads when the app was launched, usage tailed off. Until last month, when Trump stepped up his rhetoric about the need for the US to acquire Greenland, a strategically important and mineral-rich Arctic island that is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
Usage peaked Jan. 23, when there were almost 40,000 scans in one day, compared with 500 or so daily last summer. It has dropped back since but there were still around 5,000 a day this week, said Rosenfeldt, who noted “Made O’Meter” is used by over 20,000 people in Denmark but also by people in Germany, Spain, Italy, even Venezuela.
“It’s become much more personal,” said Rosenfeldt, who spoke of “losing an ally and a friend.”
Trump announced in January he would slap new tariffs on Denmark and seven other European countries that opposed his takeover calls, only to abruptly drop his threats after he said a “framework” for a deal over access to mineral-rich Greenland was reached with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s help. Few details of that agreement have emerged.
The US began technical talks in late January to put together an Arctic security deal with Denmark and Greenland, which say sovereignty is not negotiable.
Rosenfeldt knows such boycotts won’t damage the US economy, but hopes to send a message to supermarkets and encourage greater reliance on European producers.
“Maybe we can send a signal and people will listen and we can make a change,” he added.
The protest may be largely symbolic
Another Danish app, “NonUSA,” topped 100,000 downloads at the beginning of February. One of its creators, 21-year-old Jonas Pipper, said there were over 25,000 downloads Jan. 21, when 526 product scans were performed in a minute at one point. Of the users, some 46,000 are in Denmark and around 10,000 in Germany.
“We noticed some users saying they felt like a little bit of the pressure was lifted off them,” Pipper said. “They feel like they kind of gained the power back in this situation.”
It’s questionable whether such apps will have much practical effect.
Christina Gravert, an associate professor of economics at the University of Copenhagen, said there are actually few US products on Danish grocery store shelves, “around 1 to 3 percent”. Nuts, wines and candy, for example. But there is widespread use of American technology in Denmark, from Apple iPhones to Microsoft Office tools.
“If you really want to have an impact, that’s where you should start,” she said.
Even “Made O’Meter” and “NonUSA” are downloaded from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store.
Gravert, who specializes in behavioral economics, said such boycott campaigns are usually short-lived and real change often requires an organized effort rather than individual consumers.
“It can be interesting for big supermarket brands to say, OK, we’re not going to carry these products anymore because consumers don’t want to buy them,” she said. “If you think about large companies, this might have some type of impact on the import (they) do.”
On a recent morning, shoppers leaving one Copenhagen grocery store were divided.
“We do boycott, but we don’t know all the American goods. So, it’s mostly the well-known trademarks,” said Morten Nielsen, 68, a retired navy officer. “It’s a personal feeling … we feel we do something, I know we are not doing very much.”
“I love America, I love traveling in America,” said 63-year-old retiree Charlotte Fuglsang. “I don’t think we should protest that way.”
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