Army attacks rebels in Chad
2007-01-24 21:18
N'Djamena - Chad's air force bombed rebel positions on the eastern border with Sudan, killing at least two insurgents, as violence forced foreign aid workers to flee a refugee camp further north on Wednesday.
Chadian rebels of the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), a coalition grouping several warring factions, said a government helicopter pounded their positions in the border town of Ade on Tuesday morning.
"Just before the helicopter bombed us, French planes passed overhead. I think there were Mirage planes," said UFDD leader Mahamat Nouri. "They marked our positions and then the helicopter came."
He said two people were killed and four were injured in the attack. French planes had flown over their positions again on Wednesday, but there had been no further bombings, he said.
France has signed a military co-operation agreement with Chadian President Idriss Deby's government, under which it provides intelligence and logistical support.
Chad claims military attacks
French armed forces spokesperson Christophe Prazuck said its troops had remained firmly within this mandate and had not bombed anything in Chad.
Chadian military sources claimed its aircraft had been bombing the rebels since Monday, killing 20 of their fighters and wounding 30 more, including a senior commander.
"These bombings will continue until we drive out all the rebels between Amdjarame and Goz Beida, in eastern Chad," said a military source.
About 200km further north, foreign aid workers evacuated the Kounoungou refugee camp near the town of Guereda after a military officer and a rebel fighter were killed in gun battle, said UN officials.
"There was a violent incident," said an official with the UN refugee agency UNHCR. "We have asked our staff to leave the camp until we know more."
Rebels fighting cat-and-mouse conflict
A group of observers from the African Union (AU) who were inspecting the camp were evacuated by helicopter to major eastern town of Abeche, said another UN source.
He said the rebel killed was a member of the United Front for Democratic Change (FUC), whose leader Mahamat Nour Abdelkerim held a reconciliation meeting with Deby last month in Guereda.
It was not clear whether the firefight was an official action by the FUC, which has splintered into many separate factions since launching a lightning attack on N'Djamena in April that was defeated at the cost of hundreds of lives.
Several rebel groups have been fighting a cat-and-mouse conflict with Chadian government forces in eastern Chad, demanding an end to Deby's 17-year rule in the landlocked central African oil producer.
A senior US diplomat last week denounced "a quiet war" between Chad and neighbouring Sudan, with both governments supporting rebels in each others' territory. Khartoum and N'Djamena deny this.