Battle rages for Chadian capital
Rebel fighters and government troops engage in heavy fighting in Ndjamena.
France “strongly condemns the attempt to seize power” in Chad by “armed groups from the outside”, the French foreign ministry said on Saturday.
It called for “peace and reconciliation” and expressed support for mediation launched earlier during the day by the African Union (AU).
Paris also said that its role in the conflict is “neutral”.
Herve Morin, the French defence minister, said on Saturday that France had a “neutral” position in the current conflict in Chad between government and rebel troops.
“We continue to remain neutral in this combat,” Morin told France 3 television.
Morin added that France had sent over a plane to help evacuate any foreign citizens who wished to leave Chad.
He said that around 200 people had said they wanted to leave.
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He went on to win the Chad’s first two A ceasefire signed between Deby and four rebel groups in October recently collapsed The largest rebel group, the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development, is led by a former minister who accuses Deby of corruption |
The whereabouts of Idriss Deby, the president the rebels seek to overthrow, was not known.
“We suppose that Deby is inside. If he wants to leave we have no problem,” Abakar Tollimi told AFP by satellite telephone.
“We control the situation, we control the city, there are some pockets of resistance,” he said.
AU warning
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African leaders also condemned the opposition alliance’s march on Ndjamena at an AU summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzania‘s president and new head of the 52-nation bloc, said the AU will not recognise Chadian rebels should they seize power,
“If the rebellion succeeds, certainly we will excommunicate them from the African Union until normalcy and democratic institutions are restored in that country, if it has to happen that way at all,” Kikwete told a news conference.
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He said the AU had nominated Muammar Gadhafi, the Libyan leader and Denis Sassou-Nguesso, the president of Republic of Congo, to try to broker peace there.
The opposition alliance wants to remove Deby, Chad’s president [AFP] |
“Deby will surrender to our troops. We will bring him to justice and can guarantee his safety and security,” he told Al Jazeera.