'Trapped president can leave'
2008-02-02 17:06
Ndjamena - A Chadian rebel leader said on Saturday that President Idriss Deby Itno can leave his palace in the capital Ndjamena where he has been trapped by insurgent forces, if he so wishes.
"We suppose that Deby is inside. If he wants to leave we have no problem," Abakar Tollimi said.
"We control the situation, we control the city, there are some pockets of resistance," he said.
Tollimi said that government troops were around the presidential palace and using heavy weapons against the rebels, who military sources said earlier were armed with machine-guns, assault rifles and rocket launchers.
One source said that government tanks had fired on the rebels at Deby's orders in a bid to break their grip.
- SAPA