Chad Government Forces Battle Rebels Who Claim to Trap President in His Palace in Capital

Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

Aljazeera tv reported that French forces, helicopters, and jet fighters have been active in the Chadian capital, which indicates that France is taking the side of the president against the rebels who are fighting his guards around the Presidential Palace.

Chadian rebels accept Gaddafi cease-fire proposal

www.chinaview.cn 2008-02-03 14:04:14

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhuanet) --

Chadian rebels who were fighting in the capital city of Ndjamena have accepted a cease-fire proposed by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, media reported Sunday.

Libya's official news agency Jana reported that Gaddafi contacted the chief of the biggest rebel force, former diplomat Mahamat Nouri. Nouri agreed to a cease-fire and to talks aimed at implementing a peace and reconciliation agreement

The African Union Saturday appointed Gaddafi a mediator in the crisis in the oil-rich Central African nation.

However, rebel spokesman Mahamat Hassane Boulmaye said he had not heard of any cease-fire and did not believe Nouri would agree to an unconditional end to hostilities.

"The fighters would rebel," Boulmaye said in a phone call to The Associated Press. He added that he was speaking from the border with Sudan and had not spoken to Nouri since Saturday afternoon.

It is reported that earlier government troops were fighting back rebels amid reports that at least 400 were in the city and had broken into the presidential palace.

Heavy fighting was reported around the presidential palace, the defense ministry and the official radio station building.

The United Nations has decided to evacuate all its staff from Ndjamena due to fighting, according to William Spindler, a spokesman for the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Chad, a French colony until 1960, has been convulsed by civil wars and invasions since independence. The recent discovery of oil has only increased the intensity of the struggle for power in the country.

FM: Chinese nationals evacuate from Chad

www.chinaview.cn 2008-02-02 20:32:53

BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese nationals were being evacuated from Chad, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Saturday.

Heavy fighting broke out on Friday near the capital, N'Djamena, between government soldiers and an allied rebel force hostile toward President Idriss Deby, sources said.

The fighting broke out in Massaguet, about 50 kilometers northeast of N'Djamena.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said the situation might deteriorate. The ministry has quickly initiated an emergency response mechanism to organize the evacuation of overseas Chinese.

With the help of the Chinese embassy in Chad, 212 Chinese compatriots, including two from Taiwan, were evacuated to neighboring Cameroon. The embassy in Cameroon made relevant arrangements for the stranded Chinese.

Currently, about 80 Chinese remained in N'Djamena. The Chinese embassy in Chad was keeping close contact with them and would help to evacuate them as quickly as possible if necessary, Liu said.

The Department of Consular Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry recently issued a warning telling Chinese not to tour Chad.

Editor: Sun Yunlong

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Chad Government Forces Battle Rebels Who Claim to Trap President in His Palace in Capital

By TOM MALITI Associated Press Writer

Feb 3, 2008, 9:29 AM EST

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) --

Chadian forces backed by tanks and helicopter gunships struggled to repel a rebel assault on the capital Sunday, the French military said, and insurgents claimed to have trapped the president in his palace.

"Nobody can say who will win," said a French military spokesman, Capt. Christophe Prazuck. France, the former colonial power, has a long-standing military presence in the oil-rich Central African nation and was evacuating hundreds of foreigners.

A foreign aid worker described the scene in N'Djamena as "bloody and chaotic" with bodies littering the streets and looters breaking into shops during lulls in the fighting.

Gunfire could be heard coming from the area around the presidential palace, said the aid worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk with reporters.

The U.S. State Department condemned the rebel's attempt to seize power.

"We call for calm in the capital and support the (African Union's) call for an immediate end to armed attacks and to refrain from violence that might harm innocent civilians," spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The rebels arrived on the capital's outskirts Friday after a three-day push across the desert from Chad's eastern border with Sudan. Backed by 250 pickup trucks mounted with machine guns, between 1,000 and 1,500 insurgents entered the city early Saturday, quickly spreading through the streets.

Prazuck said the fighting resumed around dawn Sunday, and government forces were using tanks and helicopter gunships to try to push out the rebels, who were battling back with assault weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns.

President Idriss Deby was trapped in his palace, the rebels said, denying a report that Libya had brokered a cease-fire. Government officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

"The night was fairly calm, but it started again this morning, and there are violent clashes in the capital as we speak," rebel spokesman Mahamat Hassane Boulmaye said, speaking from the border with neighboring Sudan.

He said it was too early to give a death toll, but claimed the government had suffered "heavy losses" and the army was "weakened." A day earlier, Boulmaye had said many soldiers were defecting to the rebel side.

French Defense Minister Herve Morin told Europe-1 radio Sunday, however, that Deby "still has command over practically all of the Chadian army."

"He has at least 2,000 to 3,000 men under his authority, and obviously what happens today will be very important," Morin said.

The violence has endangered a $300 million global aid operation supporting millions in Chad, and also delayed the deployment of the European Union's peacekeeping mission to both Chad and neighboring Central African Republic.

Chad has been convulsed by civil wars and invasions since independence from France in 1960. The recent discovery of oil has only increased the intensity of the power struggles in the largely desert country, and another Chadian rebel group launched a failed assault on N'Djamena in 2006.

The rebels currently fighting in the city are believed to be a coalition of three groups. The biggest is led by Mahamat Nouri, a former diplomat who defected 16 months ago, and a nephew of Deby's, Timan Erdimi. They have long been fighting to overthrow Deby, whom they accuse of corruption. Deby, himself a soldier, has seen many defect from the army, where morale is low.

The rebels are also angry with the president for not providing what they consider enough support to insurgents in Sudan's Darfur region, some of whom are from Deby's own tribe, the Zaghawa, who are found in both Chad and Sudan.

The African Union, holding a summit in Ethiopia, said it would not recognize the rebels should they seize power, and selected Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso to try to broker a peace deal.

Libya's official news agency, JANA, reported overnight that Nouri had agreed to a cease-fire Saturday after speaking to Gadhafi. But the rebels denied any truce had been struck.

The United Nations was temporarily evacuating Chad and the U.S. Embassy said it had authorized the departure of its nonessential staff.

China's foreign ministry said Sunday that most of its citizens had evacuated and only nine embassy staff and a few other Chinese remained in N'Djamena.

China has been expanding its presence in Africa in recent years in the pursuit of energy, natural resources for its growing economy, and markets for its goods (thus competing with NATO countries).

Despite efforts to get foreigners out of the country, two Americans with U.S.-based group Stop Genocide were among about 50 people at N'Djamena's Le Meridien hotel when it was attacked Saturday, said the group's spokesman, Cory Preston.

In a blog for the organization's Web site, founder Gabriel Stauring described parts of the wall falling around him as French soldiers, who were guarding the hotel, traded fire with unknown gunmen.

French officials said foreigners wishing to leave Chad were being transferred to Libreville, Gabon, starting Saturday night. Nearly 400 had been evacuated by midday Sunday, and about 600 were gathered at safety points guarded by French soldiers, said the military spokesman, Prazuck.

France's military has about 1,400 personnel in Chad, including 1,200 in the capital. Paris sent more troops Thursday to boost its presence, although Prazuck said six Mirage fighter jets based in N'Djamena were ordered out of the city Sunday to prevent their being damaged in the fighting.

It was not clear if French forces would intervene to stop the fighting - a move that could jeopardize the planned EU peacekeeping mission to the country.

"If they were to intervene, the neutrality of the European intervention in Chad is over and it would blow France's policy on European defense," said Roland Marchal, a Chad expert and researcher at the French Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales.

Chad's government might be getting less help from France than it did during previous rebel attacks, said Henri Boshoff, a military analyst at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa.

Previously, "the French gave them intelligence using aerial reconnaissance, and that allowed the Chad government to act," Boshoff told The Associated Press. "But it looks like this time it's too late, the rebels got too close."

The difference could be that former President Jacques Chirac had tried to project the image of France as a friendly protector on the African continent. The new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has called for a "healthier relationship," saying it would not be business as usual with France's old corrupt allies on the continent.

Deby came to power at the head of a rebellion in 1990; he has won elections since, but none deemed free or fair. He brought a semblance of peace after three decades of civil war and an invasion by Libya, but became increasingly isolated.

The most recent rebellions in Chad began in 2005 in the east, erupting at the same time as the conflict in Sudan's western region of Darfur. The governments of Chad and Sudan accuse one another of backing the other's rebel groups.

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Associated Press writers Angela Doland in Paris, Alexander G. Higgins in Geneva and Michelle Faul in Nairobi contributed to this report.

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