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Chad forces may invade Sudan
04/02/2008 14:52 - (SA)
N'Djamena - Chadian armed forces were prepared to cross the border into Sudan if it was necessary, said Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-Mi on Monday.
"If it is necessary for the security of Chad, we will go to Sudan," Allam-Mi said after fiercely criticising the government in Khartoum for allegedly backing the rebel groups fighting against the government of President Idriss Deby.
Chadian officials said that Sudanese helicopters had flown in support of rebels attacking the city of Adre in the east of the country, a charge which the Sudanese government immediately denied.
Allam-Mi also declared the battle for the capital N'Djamena over and that government forces had driven the rebels out of the city after two days of intense fighting.
Thousands flee unrest
However, RFI quoted rebel leaders as saying that they had withdrawn from the centre of the city to give civilians a chance to flee before a possibly decisive battle.
The fighting in the centre of the city had driven thousands of its residents to take refuge across the border in Cameroon, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Monday.
Chadian refugees said that they had been roused in the middle of the night by rebel soldiers and ordered to leave the city.
Aid groups said that hundreds of civilians had been injured in the two days of fighting near the presidential palace in N'Djamena. Witnesses said that corpses littered the streets of the capital, but there had been no official confirmation of casualties.
The French government said on Monday that their planes had evacuated some 600 foreign nationals from N'Djamena to Libreville in Gabon since the fighting began.
Military co-operation
French Defence Minister Herve Morin said on Monday that France would not intervene militarily in the fighting without a legal mandate.
Two years ago, French fighter jets had attacked rebel columns as they marched on N'Djamena.
Morin said that France had a military co-operation agreement with its former colony, but not one that obliged it to came to the country's defence.
"This agreement of military co-operation does not in any way oblige French military forces to intervene," Morin said.
In an interview published on Monday in the daily Le Figaro, Morin said that France could intervene "within the framework of a United Nations mandate to protect Chad's integrity and lawful government".
France had more than 2 000 soldiers stationed in Chad, most of them in N'Djamena.
Meanwhile, the South African diplomatic mission in Chad was finalising arrangements on Monday for the evacuation of 15 South Africans from the country, said the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The department's spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said they were in contact with French authorities who had agreed to assist with the evacuation.
Sapa-dpa
- SAPA
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