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French military reinforcing against chad rebels Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-04-13T111341Z_01_L13255759_RTRUKOC_0_US-CHAD.xmlhttp://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-04-13T111341Z_01_L13255759_RTRUKOC_0_US-CHAD.xml
Fighting in Chad capital, Deby says he "in control"
Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:13 AM ET
By Betel Miarom
N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chadian government forces fought rebels in the capital N'Djamena on Thursday but President Idriss Deby said the attacking insurgents were repulsed and the situation in the city was under control.
After several hours of intense artillery and machinegun fire in the northeast of the city, which kept residents sheltering in their homes, the fighting appeared to lessen, residents and diplomats said.
"It's definitely calmed significantly," one diplomat, who asked not to be named, told Reuters, although he said there were still reports of some pockets of combat.
The rebels have vowed to overthrow Deby and take control of the landlocked central African oil producer, as well to disrupt a presidential election scheduled for May 3, in which Deby is standing for re-election.
But the president said the poll would go ahead.
"The situation in N'Djamena is under the control of the defense and security forces," he told French radio RFI. He said he was speaking from the presidential palace in N'Djamena.
The French Defense Ministry said some rebel vehicles had entered N'Djamena but that the main column of insurgents had been stopped around 30 km (19 miles) from the city.
"It seemed that what happened this morning were isolated, localized actions that do not translate into a coordinated act by organized units," a Defense Ministry spokesman said in Paris.
Some residents earlier reported pick-up trucks with armed rebels inside the city as heavy weapons fire echoed around.
Deby's opponents denounce what they see as his autocratic and clan-based rule and accuse him of corruption, particularly when it comes to managing the country's new oil revenues.
Once highly regarded as a brilliant battlefield tactician, Deby's grip on power has been weakened over recent months by a wave of army desertions.
He repeated his government's accusations that neighboring Sudan was backing the rebels and said his forces would display captured prisoners and weapons to prove this. The Sudanese government has denied helping the rebels.
EASTERN ATTACK
The fighting took place in the northeast of N'Djamena, where the national parliament and a Libyan-run hotel complex are located. Chadian journalists were later taken to the area, where government officials showed them 30 rebel prisoners. A Reuters reporter saw at least one body.
Government troops used helicopters to counterattack against a rebel column which had advanced to the city under cover of darkness, diplomats said. French military jets -- part of a French military force stationed in Chad -- also flew overhead but were not seen taking part in the fighting.
"The Chadian army has the situation under control in the capital 100 percent," Chadian Defense Minister Bichara Issa Djadallah told Al Jazeera television.
Rebels of the United Front for Democratic Change (FUC), who have vowed to oust Deby before next month's polls, said they attacked N'Djamena and the eastern town of Adre on the Sudan border.
"Our forces have entered Adre," FUC leader Abdoulaye Abdel Karim told Reuters by satellite phone. He said he was speaking from Chad.
France, Chad's former colonial ruler, reinforced a military contingent it has in the country and was ready to evacuate some 1,500 French nationals if necessary, French officials said.
Both the United Nations and the U.S. embassy were planning to evacuate non-essential staff from the capital, diplomats said. French forces -- including 1,200 soldiers and six combat aircraft -- were on standby to help if needed.
"It's a wait-and-see situation," a western diplomat said.
Another diplomat, who asked not to be named, said the airport, where French armored vehicles were deployed on Wednesday, was secure.
Esso Chad, a subsidiary of U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil which operates an oil pipeline in Chad, had already evacuated some staff and their families, diplomats said.
In May's election, Deby, who won power in a 1990 military revolt from the east, will face four candidates with links to his government and is expected to win. The opposition is boycotting the polls.
(Additional reporting by Dany Danzoumbe in N'Djamena, Opheera McDoom in Khartoum, Yara Bayoumy in Dubai and Jon Boyle in Paris)
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