Rebel gunfire, the music of Chad
GOZ-BEIDA, Chad (Reuters) - Harsh light and shifting shadows in the windblown desert of eastern Chad can conjure strange images, but this was no mirage.
Lurking in the shade of a thorn tree was the dark outline of a pick-up truck carrying a dozen men brandishing weapons.
In this lawless corner of Africa, the shapes under the tree meant trouble. As our battered Suzuki Samurai accelerated away, kicking up sand, the sharp "crack-crack-crack" of gunshots split the air.
We had stumbled upon a mobile column of anti-government rebels, on their way to raid Goz-Beida -- a sandy town ringed by hills and camps housing tens of thousands of refugees.
In the conflict stemming from Darfur and now destabilising Chad and Sudan, many raids are blamed on "Janjaweed", Arab militiamen who roam the borderlands on horseback, raping and pillaging.
The oil-producing rivals accuse each other of backing rebel fighters to topple their respective governments.
But these gunmen were too numerous and too heavily armed to be Janjaweed. They rode in 100 or so mud-smeared Toyota pick-ups known as "technicals", without windscreens, with roofs cut off and replaced by heavy machine guns, anti-aircraft weapons and artillery.
Each battle wagon carried up to a dozen rag-tag fighters armed with AK-47s or Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launchers. Continued...
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