New fighting breaks out in east Chad

Dec 12, 2006 (N’DJAMENA) — Fresh fighting between government troops and rebels broke in east Chad, close to the border with Sudan, both sides announced.

“We were attacked by government troops at the start of the afternoon in the Hadjer Marfain region and the fighting was very heavy,” said the leader of the rebel Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), General Mahamat Nouri.

“Sporadic fighting is still taking place,” Nouri added, reached by satellite telephone. “Chadian soldiers are beginning to flee.”

The fighting is the latest episode in a mounting offensive in recent weeks by rebel groups aiming to topple the government of Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno.

Another rebel coalition — the Rally of Democratic Forces (RAFD) — joined Tuesday’s clashes, Nouri said.

The UFDD claimed it pushed back government forces in heavy fighting, while a government official simply confirmed that fighting took place.

The two sides have offered dramatically different versions of casualty tolls in a series of violent confrontations recently.

Both government and rebel forces, for example, claimed victory during fighting near the eastern town of Biltine Saturday, with each alleging to have killed several hundred fighters from the other side.

Since then, government troops have been in hot pursuit of the rebels, with renewed fighting Monday near the Sudanese border. Once again, both sides offered starkly different accounts of events.

What is clear is that rebels have sharply increased their attacks in eastern Chad as part of larger unrest that risks destabilizing central African countries on Sudan’s western border.

Both Deby and Central African President Francois Bozize accuse Sudan of backing rebels in their countries.

(AFP)