Chadian attack helicopters fired rockets at rebel forces around the capital
Thursday, and tank fire and mortar rounds echoed through the city as government
troops attempted to hold off a rebel attack.
U.S. Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist, left, shake hands with Chad President Idriss Deby in
this Friday, Aug. 6, 2004 file photo, while a Chadian soldier looks on in
Biltine, Eastern Chad. Rebels made their first attack deep inside Chad,
fighting government forces in a central town, a witness and government
spokesman said, with just weeks to go before presidential elections.
Scores of defectors from the Chadian army have joined rebel groups since
October in their bid to overthrow President Idriss Deby.
[AP] |
French fighter jets based in N'Djamena could also be heard, but it was
unclear if they were overhead or just revving their engines at the airfield, an
Associated Press reporter said. The sounds of fighting could be heard coming
from the north, south and southeast of the city.
Columns of thick black smoke could be seen rising from the center of the
city.
The French government has said in the past it will not directly intervene in
internal politics, but would provide logistical support to the government.
The fighting began before dawn, when residents of eastern neighborhoods awoke
to heavy gunfire, sending panic through the city a day after reports that rebels
were marching on the capital.
Government officials were not reachable and the state-run radio played music
without any commentary or reports on the situation in the country.
The initial fighting appeared to be coming from a defensive position
constructed Wednesday on the road leading into N'Djamena (pronounced
IN-jah-MEEN-ah) from the east. The gunfire began about an hour before sunrise.
Chadian troops spilled into the streets and began constructing defenses all
around the city on Wednesday after three days of attacks in the countryside by
rebels and unconfirmed reports that a rebel column has moved to within 60 miles
of the capital by late Wednesday afternoon.
French troops based in Chad also took up positions around government office
buildings late Wednesday in anticipation of a potential rebel attack. Residents
stocked up on food and water.
While it was unclear whether the rebels had enough numbers to overthrow the
government, there have been several coup attempts against President Idriss Deby
and there was some question about the loyalty of his troops, since the rebels
were being led by former army commanders.
The rebels' first attack deep inside Chad came Tuesday in the central town of
Mongo, just three weeks before a presidential election scheduled for May 3.
There were no casualties, officials said.
France, which supports Deby's government, responded by adding 150 troops to
its contingent of about 1,200 already in Chad to protect about 1,500 French
citizens there.
Scores of defectors from the Chadian army have joined rebel groups in their
bid to overthrow Deby, who himself seized power in a 1990 coup and has seen his
authority undermined by violence in neighboring Sudan and an apparent struggle
for control of newly discovered oil reserves.
The troubles in Chad have revived fears that the Darfur conflict in
neighboring Sudan has the potential to undermine the entire region where Sudan,
Chad and the Central African Republic meet.
Decades of low-level tribal clashes over land and water in Darfur erupted
into large-scale violence in early 2003 when ethnic African tribes took up arms,
accusing the Arab-dominated central government of neglect. The government is
accused of responding by unleashing Arab tribal militias known as Janjaweed to
murder and rape civilians and lay waste to villages ¡ª a charge it denies.
Sudan has accused Chad of harboring Darfur rebels, while Chad has said Sudan
backs Chadian insurgents.
The instability in the lawless border region has made it easier for rebels to
organize. The crisis has sent an exodus of Sudanese refugees into Chad, and Deby
has been accused of doing too little to help Sudanese in Darfur who share ethnic
links with many Chadians.
Since October, the rebels have been skirmishing with government forces along
the western border, which is more than 600 miles east of the capital, N'Djamena.
The leaders of Sudan and Chad signed a Feb. 9 peace agreement to end
increasing tension over Darfur but it has yet to resolve the chaos on the
ground.
In Paris, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said France
condemns all efforts to seize power by force and called Chad an "anchor for the
stability of the continent as a whole."
Troops from France, which is one of Chad's largest financial supporters, in
the past have protected humanitarian workers in eastern Chad who are helping
Darfur refugees.
Chad, an arid country three times the size of California, is home to about 10
million people, mostly of Arab origin. The country became independent from
France in 1960, but has been wracked by conflict for most of its history.