DISCLAIMER: This is not about my uncle Chad, who’s doing all right in California. This is about the nation Chad, which has had a very rough time in the past – and things have gotten worse there.

Those who follow my Farmville photos on Facebook know that I like to cover the Great Famines of History when I farm. I recently featured the Chadian Lentil Famine of 2010, pictured to the left. Well, Chad is also having a civil war on top of that. The civil war isn’t over anything complicated: just money. There’s actually money in Chad because it’s pumping oil. The oil won’t go to the poor people of the nation because the leaders there are stealing as much of it as they can and using the rest to buy off rebel factions. When the UN mission protecting Sudanese refugees – yes, there are Sudanese refugees there: I told you things were rough in Chad. Anyway, when the UN mission leaves later this year, they won’t be coming back and observers believe violence in Chad will return in a big way.

Oh yeah… Lake Chad is still evaporating away. Regardless of the cause of that fact, it’s going to lead to more violence as the people there kill each other over water rights. In light of all the above, I’m of the opinion that the US State Department advisory against travel to Chad is not some kind of cover-up.