The civil war in Chad is riding the waves of global news. Not for the first time. But now, it seems the rebels are closing in on the government and the seat of governance in Ndjamena, the capital city. President Idriss Deby insists he is incharge, and in control. But the carnage goes on. And the world looks on. Women and children are wasting and the poor masses find no hiding place.

Africa, especially West Africa, is a bad example of tolerance and civil harmony. The war in Sudan reminds us of the Rwandan massacres while the world stood akimbo. Rwanda became the world's worst theatre of genocide in modern times. Sudan is not faring well, today. And the world looks on. The DRC Congo and the Great Lakes region have troubled Africa for long. Angola sucked the continent so much in its own war. And dare we talk of Liberia or Sierra Leone, for which former president Charles Taylor of Liberia now stands trial at the war crimes tribunal? Cote d'Ivoire is unresolved. Guinea is tottering. And the world looks on.

All the talk of debt relief and the ambitious UN Millennium Development Goals are going up in flames before our very eyes. And the world looks on! Isn't a stitch in time worth its value and moral anymore? If the regions fail, is the UN Security Council only about Iran and Iraq? Can't the United Nations act, of its own accord? Is terrorism not finding home in the troubled zones of Somalia or sympathisers in Yemen and elsewhere? Can that not blossom in such other places, in particular war-torn countries? Isn't that more expensive and traumatic? Yet the world looks on.

It seems clear that all these crises are fuelled from both within and without the territories, and the continent. The more resource-endowed a country is, whether explored or not, the more likely it will descend into strife, and even more certain for a ferocious civil war to endure. Then the illegal and criminal exploitation of the territory's resources speeds on. Safe haven and offshore bank accounts will be bursting with investments. And the world looks on. Soon, as in Rwanda, there will be crocodile tears and recontruction grants, and debt relief, etc. The classic and regular "medicine-after-death" response of our hypocritical and incorrigible world.

Chad is the latest theatre. Its government accuses Sudan of plotting its overthrow through the insurgency, a charge flatly denied by Khartoun. Meanwhile, all efforts by the African Union (AU) and Nigerian madiators have yet to succeed. France, the former colonial ruler, has a presence there - obviously to protect its own interests and the current rulers. Chad has recently joined the oil exporting club! It routes its crude through Cameroon, its francophone neighbour.

Let's save time. I believe the Chadian crisis can be solved in one fell swoop if France, Nigeria, Sudan, Cameroon and the African Union agree on a joint action TODAY. If the AU decrees that no neighbour should harbour rebels, and mandates ECOWAS to enforce same, France can leverage the francophonie for the same purpose. Nigeria and Cameroon can provide the security
needed. And all parties will be compelled to commit to peace, or else...

It should be easy to kill the war in Chad. Human lives ( even in Africa!) must not be such free and wanton disposable. Haba. This war must be stopped. It should be done now. Today.