Chadian rebels take capital

2008-02-02 15:49

Nairobi - Hundreds of rebels penetrated the capital of Chad on Saturday, clashing with government troops and moving on the presidential palace after a three-day advance across the central African nation, officials and witnesses said. Looting, gunfire and explosions were reported.

Colonel Thierry Burkhard, a French military spokesperson, said groups of rebels gathered outside the capital, N'Djamena, overnight before 1 000-1 500 fighters entered early on Saturday and spread through the city.

A leader of Chad's main opposition alliance, which is unarmed and not associated with the rebels, said shooting broke out after rebels entered the city around 08:00 but appeared to die down about two hours later. Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh said about 12:45 that there were no soldiers in his neighbourhood and state radio had gone off the air.

"At the moment we are not hearing any firing ... The rebels are in the city. Civilians are in the streets. They are watching what is happening," said Saleh.

The French and American governments had told their citizens to assemble in secure locations as witnesses reported looting, gunfire and explosions near government buildings.

UN evacuates staff

France's embassy in Chad sent messages over Radio France Internationale telling citizens to head to the Lycee Francais high school and two other locations in N'Djamena, a French diplomatic official said on condition of anonymity because government policy barred him from providing his name.

France's military has about 1 400 personnel in Chad, about 1 200 of those in the capital.

The US Embassy said in a bulletin on its Web site that any Americans seeking evacuation should immediately move to the embassy. State Department spokesperson Karl Duckworth said the embassy had authorised the departure of nonessential personnel and family members.

The UN decided to evacuate all its staff from N'Djamena. "It's been decided that the UN will temporarily evacuate all their remaining staff," said William Spindler, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. "We're looking at the logistics and how it can be done. Since there is fighting going on, it might be difficult to carry it out."

Spindler said 51 UN staff were evacuated from N'Djamena to Cameroon overnight.

Rebel forces have been advancing on the capital for three days in about 250 pickup trucks from the direction of the border with Sudan, some 820km to the east of N'Djamena.

Associated Press writers Angela Doland in Paris, Alexander G Higgins in Geneva and Michelle Faul in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report.

- AP