Paris - Following fresh rebel attacks in Chad, France placed its troops in the central African country on full alert Wednesday and announced that reinforcements were on their way, according to senior military sources in Paris. A company of 150 soldiers would be moved to Chad from Libreville in Gabon, the sources said. Until now, the number of French troops in Chad was 1,200. The soldiers had remained in their barracks 'except for patrols to assess the situation' and had not become involved in the fighting, the French military in Paris said. Paris condemned 'every attempt to seize power with violence,' the Foreign Ministry reported.
Owing to its central location in Africa, Chad plays an important role for the stability of the continent, the ministry said, adding that the 1,500 French troops in Chad had to be protected. France was providing the 'rightfully elected government' of President Idriss Deby with data from reconnaissance flights over the area where fighting was taking place.
In recent days, the United Front for Democratic Change (FUC) took control of Haraze-Mangueigne garrison near the border with the Central African Republic and the village of Koukou in the east. On Tuesday, the FUC said it had taken control of the town of Mongo, 400 kilometres to the east of the capital Ndjamena, and the village of Bitkine on the way to the capital. The Defence Ministry in Ndjamena claimed that it had taken Mongo back from the rebels.
The FUC was formed in the border area next to the Sudanese civil- conflict region of Darfur. There are 200,000 Sudanese refugees in the border area, and the number of attacks on refugee camps has been increasing. Chadian generals are believed to have defected to the rebels in recent months, and there were rumours of an attempted coup d'etat in March. Deby hopes to be re-elected after 16 years as head of state in elections on May 3. |