Chad may send troops to CAR
2006-11-17 14:12
N'Djamena - Chad is proposing to send troops to its southern neighbour, the Central African Republic, to help it fight off an invasion of Sudanese-backed rebels, says the government.
Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimnadji, in a speech to parliament cited by the government website on Friday, also called for the "general mobilisation" of Chad's people against what he called "a generalised war imposed by the Sudanese government".
His announcement appeared to signal a wider escalation of the three-year-old conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region, which had increasingly been spilling over the border into Chad and the CAR.
Yoadimnadji said that rebels he described as "mercenaries in the pay of Sudan" had occupied several towns in northeast CAR and were advancing west and south.
More than 300 people killed
He said Chad's government proposed sending troops - whose number he didn't specify - to help its southern neighbour under a regional defence pact.
Yoadimnadji said: "A popular saying goes that if your neighbour's house is on fire, you go to help him, or you risk the fire spreading to your house."
He added that Chad had also suffered repeated incursions by "Sudanese soldiers" over its eastern border, triggering ethnic violence in Chadian communities, which had killed more than 300 people in recent weeks.
Yoadimnadji said: "We are witnessing a generalised war imposed by the Sudanese government. This is why we are calling for a general mobilisation of the Chadian people."
Sudan's government had repeatedly denied that it was backing rebels in Chad and the CAR.