Chad rebels attack president’s hometown

Feb 19, 2007 (N’DJAMENA)- – Rebels in Chad attacked the northern town of Fada, birthplace of the president Idriss Deby Itno, they and military sources said.

“Early this morning (Monday) we attacked the town of Fada, which fell into the hands of our troops at 10:00am local time (0900 GMT),” Abakar Tolli, one of those in charge of the rebel Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD) told AFP.

“Our troops are still in the town and the government troops are in retreat,” he said during an interview by satellite telephone, adding that 63 members of the Chad army had been killed, 45 were injured and 34 had been taken prisoner.

A military source confirmed to AFP the attack by rebels on Fada, a town more than 900 kilometres (560 miles) north-east of the capital, N’Djamena, but did not give any other details.

“It was simply an attack by rebels who were looking to stock up on supplies,” a Chad government source said, on condition of anonymity. “Our forces repelled them, we have control of the town,” the source said.

Fada is based in the Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti region, to the north of the area of eastern Chad that has until now been the base of most of the rebels hostile to President Deby.

The UFDD, led by general Mahamat Nouri, signed an agreement with the other main rebel movements in December to coordinate their military operations against the N’Djamena government.

This agreement included the Rally of Democratic Forces, led by brothers Tom and Timane Erdemi, and the CNT, led by Hassan Saleh al-Djinedi.

In mid-January, UFDD members attacked the areas around Ounianga Kebir and Gouro, to the north-west of Fada, before withdrawing.

There were also clashes between forces of the new coalition and government troops on February 1 around Adre, on the Chad-Sudan border, and last week the CNT attacked the area of Haraze Mangueigne, close to the border between Chad and the Central African Republic, before withdrawing.