Chad rebels say clashed with Sudan’s Darfur rebels
February 4, 2008 (N’DJAMENA) — The Chadian rebels, which Ndjamena said were backed by Khartoum, said today they had repelled Sudanese rebels from Darfur region who were in rout to Ndjamena to rescue the president Idriss Deby.
Timane Erdimi, leader of one of the groups in the rebel coalition, told Reuters on Monday evening they had pulled back to face pro-Deby fighters from Sudan’s Darfur region, who were racing to the president’s aid across some 800 km (500 miles) of scrub from the east.
Aid workers in eastern Chad said a large column of fighters from the Darfur rebels had passed the eastern town of Abéché and was rushing to N’Djamena, Reuters reported.
Earlier this morning Erdimi, who is the chairman of the rebel Rally for Change (RPC), told Radio France International that the involvement of Darfur rebels in the conflict would complicate the situation and it might drag on into a regional conflict.
The rebel leader accused the Chadian president of appealing to the Sudanese rebels to stop the progress of his troops.
“Deby has appealed to the Sudanese rebels to help halt our progress. The Sudanese have responded to the call and they left from the day before yesterday from Tiné [a twon near the border] and another group recently came from Massaquet, [a Chadian locality near the border]. Now we expect to deal with it.”
“One of our colons left to the rout of Massaquet Ndjamena and another force was charged with the monitoring of the axis of Ndjamena Quawel.” Erdimi said.
Chad says the rebels, who include some of Deby’s former allies and family members, are armed by Sudan. Khartoum denies this and accuses Chad of supporting the five-year uprising in its Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have died.
Chad’s army said it repulsed an assault by Sudanese army troops and rebels on the frontier town of Adre on Sunday.
Before withdrawing late on Sunday, rebel fighters had gone from house to house in some areas, telling occupants to leave because they planned to attack again. Thousands of refugees poured across the Ngueli bridge over the Logone-Chari river into Cameroon after dawn, carrying belongings and children.
(ST)