Chadian rebels claim town’s seizure

June 26, 2006 (N’DJAMENA) — Rebels in Chad claimed Monday to have seized a southern town after a brief clash with government forces. Government officials said they were still collecting information on the claim, which was posted on a rebel Web site.

The statement, attributed to Col. Hassane Saleh Aldjinedi of the Chadian National Accord, a faction of the umbrella United Front for Democratic Change, said rebels attacked army positions in Kalogne, near Chad’s border with the Central African Republic, early Monday and it was “liberated with almost no resistance.”

Rebels, who include soldiers who have deserted the army and a handful of relatives of President Idriss Deby, have been fighting to overthrow his government since October. Few attacks have been reported since their failed bid to take N’djamena, the capital, in April.

The rebels have their bases in an area along Chad’s border with Sudan that has descended into instability because of the war in the western Sudan region of Darfur. Chad accuses Sudan of backing the Chad rebels, while Sudan accuses Chad of backing Darfur rebels.

Deby himself used Darfur as a staging ground when he seized power at the head of a rebel army in 1990.

(ST/AP)