Chad sets election date
2006-04-19 08:51
N'Djamena - Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno on Tuesday said he had full control of the country after last week's failed rebel offensive and promised that presidential elections would go ahead as planned on May 3.
Deby said: "We have the situation in hand throughout the whole of Chad. We have no reason not to hold the election on the date, determined under the constitution, of May 3."
Deby again accused neighbouring Sudan of supporting and arming the United Front for Change (FUC), saying he had information that Khartoum was helping the rebels regroup to launch fresh attacks.
Albissaty Saleh Allazam of the FUC said the rebels would "do everything in our power to stop the elections".
Diplomats had warned that the rebellion could yet bring to a fall Deby's embattled regime, plunging Chad into chaos and further destabilising a region already reeling from famine and the Darfur war.
Deby accused the African Union of ignoring signs of Sudanese involvement in the uprising, to which he had responded by severing diplomatic ties with Khartoum.
He said: "The AU should condemn Sudan's agression in the strongest way. If my colleagues can't say the truth to President Omar al-Beshir, this continent is off to another bad start."
France, the former colonial power and a traditional ally of Deby, said that on Tuesday the rebels and an opposition group had requested an audience with French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.
France has 1 350 troops stationed in Chad and gave logistical help to the army during the rebel attack, but Paris has insisted its men were not involved in fighting and acted mainly to protect some French civilians in Chad.
International observers have became increasingly adamant that Sudan is embroiled in efforts to oust Deby, despite al-Beshir's firm denials.
"The FUC rebels are Chadians, but they are clearly supported by Sudan," said Olivier Bercault, regional specialist for the global rights group Human Rights Watch said.
The United States on Monday suggested that Sudan may have had a hand in the the uprising, and warned Khartoum such action was "unacceptable."
Deby on Tuesday said that 70 civilians were also killed in the twin offensives on N'Djamena and the eastern city of Adre, near the Sudanese border.
"There were 60 civilians killed in N'Djamena and another ten in Adre, where 17 people were also injured. We lost 40 soldiers and 137 of our men were injured," the president said.
The dispute between Chad and Sudan has seen N'Djamena give up its role as a mediator in Sudan's western Darfur region where ethnic fighting and famine have killed 300,000 people in the past three years.
Deby on Tuesday accused Khartoum of recruiting young men from Darfur for the rebels forces fighting to oust him.