Chad rebels launch new offensive
Nov 24, 2006 (N’DJAMENA) — Chadian rebels rolled into the east of the country in their second offensive within a month against President Idriss Deby Itno, said the head of rebel group UFDD, confirming earlier comments from French and Chadian officials.
“We made today several sorties into the province of Ouaddai, we are in the regions of Goz Beida, Adre (and) Ade,” General Nouri, head of the rebel Union of Forces for Development and Democracy (UFDD), said by satellite phone.
“For now, we are only doing patrols but we are going to move to attacking in the coming days,” the general said.
Earlier, the French embassy in N’Djamena said that a “large column of rebels” had entered Ouaddai, and that it was “moving west.”
A Chadian military source said that the rebel column, composed of around 80 vehicles, had been seen on Friday afternoon less than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Sudanese border. “For now, we are monitoring them,” the source said.
French military aircraft based in N’Djamena,meanwhile, were able to observe the column, a military source in Paris said, while witnesses reported that it had been moving west deeper into Chad.
No skirmishes between the rebels and government forces had been reported.
The UFDD, a recently formed alliance of several rebel factions, briefly occupied two eastern towns in late October before pulling back toward the borders of Sudan and the Central African Republic.
Clashes left heavy losses on both sides, including the deputy head of the Chadian army, General Moussa Sougui.
N’Djamena has accused neighbouring Sudan of aiding the rebels, an allegation it has denied. The Arab regime in Khartoum has for its part accused the government in N’Djamena of backing black African rebels in Darfur.
The rebel offensive prompted humanitarian groups on Friday to suspend operations in eastern Chad, set up to deal with the flow of refugees from Darfur and to help victims of violence between Chadian communities.
“All our humanitarian personnel have returned to base,” Helene Caux, spokeswoman for the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) told AFP.
The United Nations estimates that more than 200,000 refugees from Sudan are in Chad and that more than 50,000 Chadians have been displaced.
The French embassy in the Chadian capital advised its 1,500 nationals present in Chad to avoid all unnecessary movements around the country.
The African Union (AU) called on Sudan and Chad to maintain a “permanent dialogue” and expressed its “concern” at the mounting tensions.
At a Thursday meeting the AU’s Peace and Security Council “expressed its concern at the incidents reported along their joint border and the worsening of relations between the two countries,” a statement said.
Chad’s government on November 13 declared a state of emergency for the entire country in an effort to stop clashes between Arab and non-Arab groups which, it said, have left more than 400 people dead and displaced thousands more.
The state of emergency was extended on Thursday until May 2007, a move criticized by the opposition and non-state media months ahead of elections.
(AFP)