France condemns Chad rebels, accuses Sudan
February 3, 2008 (PARIS) — France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy strongly condemned a rebel offensive to topple the Chadian government Sunday as a first batch of evacuated foreigners reached the safety of French soil.
During telephone talks with Chadian President Idriss Deby, Sarkozy “said again that France… strongly condemns the attempt to seize power by armed groups coming from the outside,” presidential spokesman David Martinon said.
Paris’s reaction came after fierce fighting between rebels and government forces rocked the Chadian capital, handing French troops in the central African country the twin challenge of getting hundreds of foreigners out safely and staying out of harm’s way themselves.
Hours later, the government and the army said the rebellion had been quashed although a rebel leader maintained that their forces had simply pulled back temporarily from the capital to allow civilians time to leave.
A first French military aircraft touched down at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport outside Paris, carrying 202 foreigners evacuated from Ndjamena via the Gabonese capital Libreville.
Chad’s conflict has left former colonial power France walking a tightrope as it tries to salvage a European peacekeeping mission for Darfur refugees and prevent its forces from being drawn into combat.
The secretary general of the French Presidency Claude Guéant has accused Sudan on Sunday of trying to “liquidate” the regime of Idriss Deby before the arrival of a planned peacekeeping force (EUFOR) by supporting the rebellion in Chad.
“Why the intervention took place at that time? It was the last moment before the arrival of the EUFOR, which was beginning to take place, for the Sudan to achieve these ends, i.e. to try to liquidate the regime of Idris Deby, “said the closest collaborator of Nicolas Sarkozy to radio Europe-1.
“I have clear indications suggesting that if this was not the rivalry between the Sudanese regime and the regime of Chad, we would have little difficulty to install the Eufor,” said Guéant He further mentioned the “indisputable logistical support from the Sudan” to the rebels.
While fighting was still raging in the Chadian capital, Claude Guéant confirmed that “there is no direct intervention of France.” “This is a civil war. France can only intervene on the basis of international mandate,” he explained. In this crisis, “France strives to work to save lives, wounded, evacuate people who are in danger,” he said.
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, while condemning a “brutal attack on a legal government, against an elected president” has made it clear the 1,450 French troops would not get involved.
French forces are in Chad to provide logistical and intelligence support to President Idriss Deby’s regime, and Paris sent an extra 150 troops to help evacuate foreign nationals.
But the French military has been drawn into fighting in Chad in the past: in 2006, they helped fight off another rebel assault on Ndjamena, to the anger of Deby’s opponents.
On Sunday a rebel spokesman accused French forces of allowing Chadian army helicopters to take off from Ndjamena airport and attack a rebel column in the city.
Two French soldiers were lightly injured by debris during the fighting, but an armed forces spokesman said he did not think they were deliberately targeted.
France has reaffirmed its support for Deby’s regime, and offered to help Deby leave the country — turned down by the Chadian leader, who seized power at the head of a rebel force with French support in 1990.
While condemning the rebel assault, Kouchner called Saturday for “a truce, negotiations and an agreement” between the government and the rebels.
The violence has already caused the suspension of a planned European peacekeeping force (EUFOR) deployment to Chad and neighbouring Central African Republic, now put back to Wednesday.
“Nobody has the intention of giving up this operation,” Defence Minister Herve Morin said of the EUFOR deployment, championed by France to protect refugees from Sudan’s Darfur province just over the border.
Chad’s Foreign Minister Amad Allam-Mi has accused Sudan of masterminding the rebel offensive in a bid to halt the deployment.
Khartoum on Sunday denied any involvement but Kouchner told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that it was “absolutely certain that these Chadian (rebel) forces come from Sudan.”
Paris fears that a foothold in Chad would enable Khartoum to further undermine international efforts to end the Darfur conflict, and hopes a negotiated settlement could prevent Sudan from extending its influence in Chad.
Philippe Hugon of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) said that “in a country of clan wars where all alliances are possible, a political solution might be conceivable.”
“We get the feeling Paris waited 48 hours to see what the balance of power was, with a very wait-and-see attitude,” said Antoine Glaser, a journalist and expert on Franco-African relations.
Now, as Deby resists the rebel assault, holed up in the presidential palace, “the position of support for Idriss Deby seems to have won,” Glaser said.
Regional experts say the rebels, operating far from their bases on the Sudanese border, risk rapidly running out of supplies and ammunition.
In any event, Morin said the new fighting could be “crucial” in the battle for control of the former French colony.
(Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP)