Chadian troops clashed on Thursday with rebels from neighboring Sudan, each side claiming victory in a first direct confrontation that left aid agencies and traders fearing the worst.
In a statement broadcast on national radio, the army claimed 125 rebels and 21 soldiers were killed, 30 government troops wounded and 152 rebels taken prisoner. Several vehicles were also destroyed or captured.
“The first ground clashes have just taken place at Am-Deressa, 10km south of Am-Dam” in eastern Chad, Chadian Communications Minister Mahamat Hissene said.
“The government forces gained the upper hand and mopping up operations are continuing,” Hissene said.
Interim defense minister Adoum Younousmi spoke earlier in the day of “heavy” casualties from “fierce” combat.
Rebel alliance spokesman Adberaman Koulamallah said that fighting began at 5am, “was very violent” and “lasted for hours.”
He said that the battle “turned in our favor. Government forces are completely routed. We occupy Am-Dam. The objective is still [the capital] Ndjamena.”
Am-Dam is 110km north of Goz Beida and more than 100km south of Abeche, the two towns used as bases by most relief agencies working in eastern Chad to help 450,000 refugees and displaced people.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Thursday said it had pulled all but two of 20 staff out of camps for 60,000 people because of the instability by the insurgency since it began on Monday.
The UN World Food Programme took a similar decision in the same region on Wednesday.
“All the other humanitarian agencies are going to do the same” because the situation is “too volatile and too unstable,” said Serge Male, representing the High Commissioner for Refugees in Chad.
Chad has accused Sudan of backing the rebel assault, which began with the ink barely dry on a Sunday peace pact between the fractious neighbors brokered in Doha by Qatar and Libya.
Koulamallah said on Thursday that the rebels advancing across the hot, arid south of the central African country had “more than a thousand” four-by-four vehicles, but said they had been attacked each day by helicopters and high-flying bombers.
The government has so far stated that it carried out one air attack.
The military activity — which echoes a push in February last year when rebels battled their way to the gates of the presidential palace before being beaten back — has also raised fears among Ndjamena traders.
“Memories of what happened in February 2008 come back into my head,” said Elise Mariam, a fish seller in Ndjamena, one of thousands who fled the city then. “Since I heard that war is back, I’ve been really frightened.”
“I abandoned everything and lost it all. I don’t want to live through that again ... The international community should act fast,” he said.
“We sow injustice and we harvest war,” said civil servant Hassan Kuerge. “The international community should put pressure on Deby and his brothers [the political and armed opposition] to have them make peace.”
Chadian Interior and Public Security Minister Ahmat Mahamat Bashir has accused Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir of ordering “mercenaries” to attack Chad and vowed that the rebels would be wiped out.
Peace between Chad and Sudan is regarded as essential to any lasting settlement to a six-year-old uprising in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
The UN Security Council was to meet yesterday to discuss the crisis, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
People with missing teeth might be able to grow new ones, said Japanese dentists, who are testing a pioneering drug they hope will offer an alternative to dentures and implants. Unlike reptiles and fish, which usually replace their fangs on a regular basis, it is widely accepted that humans and most other mammals only grow two sets of teeth. However, hidden underneath our gums are the dormant buds of a third generation, said Katsu Takahashi, head of oral surgery at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, Japan. His team launched clinical trials at Kyoto University Hospital in October, administering an experimental
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
IVY LEAGUE GRADUATE: Suspect Luigi Nicholas Mangione, whose grandfather was a self-made real-estate developer and philanthropist, had a life of privilege The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare made it clear he was not going to make things easy on authorities, shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court and then objecting to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance on Tuesday were not expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, the leader of the US’ largest medical insurance company. Little new information has come out about motivation,
RSS