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SASKIA : GERMANS IN AFRICA, A DAILY LIFE OF PEACE AND TROUBLE

Life inside N'djamina

After couple days, the presence of German uniforms and flags became more and more common for the inhabitants of the capital of Chad.

On the streets, the armored vehicles with an Iron Cross brought a sense of security in the streets of N'djamina. Some soldiers were seen ordering food or coffee in broken french trying to integrate in a small manner. The patrols of the Bundeswehr consisted of a squads of five in the most common areas of the capital notably in busy markets or bus stations.

With the Treaty of Military Cooperation, the German army conducted searches and controls in some specific checkpoints notably at the airport and at the entry points of the capital. The checkpoints were mandatory to enter the capital and to leave it. At times, communication was complicated.

One day, a simple check lasted 25 minutes because a Bundeswehr officer, who obviously didn't speak french, tried to express himself in German regardless of the incomprehension of the civilians.

The arrival of the French forces however did help language problems. General Berthold signed an agreement with the French corps to put in place combined patrols to help checks and investigations. Patrols now consisted of at least one french soldier, who would make translations either in english or in German.

During the first month, the Bundeswehr and the Armée Française opened 320 "judicial informations" against potential terrorists with the help Chad Police.

At night, the Bundeswehr and Armée Française make vehicle patrols in their armored cars.

Bundeswehr soldier, Lars Kerder : What we do with the french colleagues is we make fixed patrols and verify the identity of suspicious individuals. Sometimes it goes fine and sometimes its a bit more complicated but we have Grégoire, he is a french lieutenant and he speaks french so it usually helps.

Armée Française soldier, Lieutenant Grégoire : The nights are pretty calm during the week. On weekends we have to make some checks at gatherings which can sometimes be places of crime organisation.

More recently, the Bundeswehr started escort operations for some sensitive transport such as school buses and hospital vehicles.

Meanwhile, the base started taking shape with the first buildings and security systems in place. The French help increased the speed of construction. However, the relationship between both forces were not always harmony. Some high officers of the French army were considered by Bundeswehr high ranking officers as "pretentious". During patrols too, the German forces were seen by the French as too strict and lacking initiative and aggression.

However, despite this, during the first month, an explosion at check point NANCY killed 4 chad civilians and injured one Bundeswehr soldier. Berthold open a "judicial information" but found no clear leads on who was responsible.

Two other explosions happened inside N'djamina, one in a busy street killing 8 people and another near a hotel killing 5. Judicial informations were open again. This time, Berthold received conclusions that these explosions were the works of potential LURA and ISFC terrorists.

General Berthold therefore published a project of intensified search procedures to detect and arrest terrorist before they could act.

However, there was also a problem that Germans could not resolve. Their white faces made them too clear. It was necessary to create, typical of German style, a network of spies inside terrorist networks with the help of PGC forces. The project called "CANO" would have also the necessary presence of elements of the French Armée.

Luftwaffe on the CUA frontline

The fighting between the PGC and the CUA continued intensly at the arrival of European forces. Units of the Heeresfliegertruppe provided support to PGC units in defending the frontlines.

Tiger helicopters received orders to only protect PGC forces attacked but not engage CUA units directly. Reports suggests succesful hits but mostly brutal deterrant effect.

Two weeks after the initial arrive of the Luftwaffe, the Armée de l'Air came to support the German units in a rolling system to patrol and protect PGC units.

It would take an extra month for both German and French forces to set their position in two different FOBs one named "URSULA" and "MATHEUS".

Refugee reports

On the first few days of the arrival of the Bundeswehr, General Berthold reported 400 refugees dispersed within the capital but more to come as fighting intensified.

There was now a problem : where to keep them safe, and how to prevent more deaths beyond PGC territory.

If genocide was to happen, it would be from extremist religious terrorist groups namely DPF and LURA. Their territories were considered as "high genocide" risk. Initially, General Berthold was not enthusiastic to intervene there. But more and more, there was a possibility that evacuating civilians rather than killing terrorist would be the only way to save lives.