Chad troops battle advancing rebels

Fresh clashes have erupted in Chad as government troops moved to halt an attempted rebel advance on the capital

Chadian troops fought an hour-long battle with rebel forces near the eastern town of Am-Dam [File: AFP

The fighting in the east of the country left 125 fighters from the Union of Resistance Forces
(UFR) dead, the interim defence minister said on Friday.

“We’ve managed to put a stop to the wanderings of the mercenaries,” Adoum Younousmi told a news conference in the capital, Ndjamena.

He said that the hour-long battle in the town of Am-Dam, around 100km inside Chad’s eastern border with Sudan, left 21 government troops dead.

Mahamat Hissene, the Chadian communications minister, said that 150 rebel fighters were captured, including the group’s senior commander.

The Chadian army has bombarded the rebel forces since they crossed into the country from Sudan on Monday.

‘Violent clashes’

Ali Ordjo Hemchi, a spokesman for the UFR, told the AFP news agency that there had been new “violent clashes” on Friday.

He said that “several dozen” government troops had been killed or wounded and tanks destroyed in fighting around Houaich, near Am-Dam.

In February 2008, a rebel group battled its way across Chad to the presidential palace in Ndjamena before being pushed back by government forces.
The United Nations Security Council is to meet later on Friday to discuss the situation in the country.

UN agencies have warned that the clashes will make it increasingly difficult to reach 22,000 refugees from Darfur in neighbouring Sudan and 60,000 internally displaced people in the area.The UNHCR has moved 18 of its staff away from the conflict zone, with two staff remaining to ensure basic supplies and services continued, Ron Redmond, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR), said.

“Reduced humanitarian activities can only be sustained for a short while and we are hoping to regain access to the Koukou area very soon,” he said.

UNHCR runs 12 camps in eastern Chad, mainly along the remote Chad-Sudan border.

The UN World Food Programme has also pulled workers out of the region because of the security situation.

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Sudan deal

The fighting came just days after Chad reached a deal with Sudan, which it has previously accused of backing armed groups seeking to overthrow the government in Ndjamena, to refrain from using force to resolve their conflicts.

Previously, Ndjamena had accused Khartoum of sending armed groups into the east, close to the shared border of the two oil-producing countries. Khartoum denied the accusation.

Chad and Sudan resumed shaky diplomatic ties in November after previously cutting them in May.

Khartoum has accused Idriss Deby, the Chadian president, of involvement in an attack on the Sudanese capital by Darfur rebels on May 11, 2008.

Asked to comment on the implications of the latest clashes for Chad’s relations with Sudan, Ahmat Mahamat Bachir, the interior and security minister, told the news conference: “The government will draw all the consequences of it.”

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