Chad clashes leave 100s dead

2005-12-19 19:36

N'Djamena - Government forces took control of the border town Adre after a gunfight left more than 300 rebels and six soldiers dead, a government minister said on Monday.

The town, about 1 000km east of the capital N'djamena, was under government control, communication minister Hourmadji Moussa said. It was impossible to get independent verification of his claims about the incident, which happened on Sunday.

The rebels were apparently made up of deserters from Chad's army and have regrouped in the eastern part of the country near the border with Sudan's volatile Darfur region. The rebel soldiers have been joined by former high-ranking government officials, among them two nephews of President Idriss Deby.

Bid to overthrow the president

The rebel soldiers and former high-ranking government officials have formed the Foundation for Change, Unity and Democracy that reportedly seeks to overthrow Deby, although its aims are not clear.

Jean-Marie Fakhouri, the head of operations in Chad for the United Nations Commission on Refugees said they were concerned about developments in the east because fighting there could disrupt attempts to help the 230 000 Sudanese refugees who fled Darfur.

"Eastern Chad is a desert. You don't even have one shrub. If there's insecurity, people are going to die," because it will be difficult to get much-needed aid to them, Fakhouri said from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "You can't talk about eastern Chad without talking about Darfur. These two areas have the same tribes. People keep going back and forth."

Last month, African Union Commission chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare expressed concern that the unrest in eastern Chad was a threat to regional security.

Since October there have been intermittent clashes between the Foundation for Change, Unity and Democracy and Chad's army and at times the rebel soldiers have crossed into Sudan to escape army attacks.

- AP