Chad rebels seize second town

June 15, 2008 (NDJAMENA) — Chadian rebels seized a second town Sunday as they headed west towards their stated objective, the capital, but government authorities dismissed its capture as a publicity stunt.

Rebel forces took the eastern city of Am Dam “without much resistance” from government forces at around midday, said their spokesman — a day after having briefly occupied Goz Beida, closer to the Sudan border.

“Our objective is not to take towns but to clear obstacles on the road to Ndjamena,” Ali Gueddei, the spokesman for the National Alliance grouping of rebel factions, told AFP.

“We are not occupying them. Our objective is Ndjamena,” he added.

French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner, who said Sunday that France “has not intervened and will not intervene” in the conflict, quashed the claim that rebels had made serious gains towards the capital, saying that “EUFOR forces have denied this.”

Chadian authorities confirmed that Am Dam had fallen to the rebels but said it was a “PR stunt” by the armed groups.

“The rebels are effectively in Am Dam but it’s a locality where there is neither a garrison nor troops deployed,” said a Chadian military source.

Chad’s Minister of Communications, Mahamat Hissene, said the government was not overly alarmed.

“We are serene. The army is deploying its plan and is taking control of the situation,” the minister told AFP.

Meanwhile General Nouri, who leads the National Alliance uniting several rebel factions, told AFP that their forces were still on the move and that the capital remained their ultimate objective.

It was Nouri who led the rebel offensive in February that breached the capital before being beaten back.

“We want to gradually destroy the enemy, the Chadian army,” he told AFP by telephone.

Nouri refused to set a date on the attempt to topple Chad’s President Idriss Deby Itno, saying only it would be “in the short term.”

He rejected Ndjamena’s claims that Sudan was behind the current offensive.

“Sudan is a partner, but we are not part of Sudan. The Chadian government can say that, but we consider it an insult. We are sovereign.”

A negotiated solution was nevertheless possible, he added.

“We have always said negotiation is preferable to war. It is a hundred times better than war. Unfortunately Deby does not want peace.”

President Deby blamed Sudan for backing the February assault that was led by Nouri, a claim denied by Sudan.

Ndjamena, on the western edge of the landlocked central African state, is about 600 kilometres (370 miles) west of Am Dam.

Am Dam is another 110 kilometres north-west of Goz Beida, which the rebels briefly occupied Saturday — and Goz Beida is just 75 kilometres west of the border with Sudan.

Fighting near Goz Beida on Saturday saw Irish members of the European Union force (EUFOR) guarding Sudanese refugees exchange fire with unidentified gunmen. There were no apparent casualties.

There are nearly 80,000 displaced Chadians and some 36,000 refugees from neighbouring Sudan’s war-battered Darfur region living in camps around Goz Beida.

Staff with German and Italian aid agencies in the area said that their supplies had been pillaged, with vehicles stolen and a garage set ablaze in the attacks Saturday night.

Nouri said he regretted the clash with EUFOR troops. “It is unfortunate and regrettable. EUFOR’s role is justified,” he said. But he criticised France’s role in its former colony.

“The French position is not neutral,” he said. “The French are making our life more difficult. Their aircraft participate (in the fighting) by surveying our positions and furnishing the Chadian army with information.”

Kouchner said at a press conference in Abidjan marking the end a trip to Ivory Coast that France would stay out of the current conflict.

“There is no position for France to maintain,” Kouchner said when questioned about Paris’ stance. “France has not intervened and will not intervene.”

France, the former colonial power, has had air and ground troops stationed in Chad since 1986 as part of a distinct operation named Epervier under a defence agreement between Paris and Ndjamena.

The rebel forces have accused it of actively supporting Deby’s regime.

(AFP)