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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Chad rebels agree on ceasefire |
| 2008-02-06 |
| Rebels in Chad announced Tuesday an immediate ceasefire as France - emboldened by UN condemnation of the insurgents - declared it was poised to intervene militarily. With refugees pouring into neighbouring Cameroon by the thousands, fearing renewed fighting in the capital Ndjamena, rebel spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah said the insurgents were bowing to diplomatic pressure to halt their offensive against President Idriss Deby Itno’s regime.“Aware of the suffering of the Chadian people ... the forces of national resistance have given their agreement to an immediate ceasefire,” Koulamallah told AFP by satellite telephone. Ceasefire pointless: Reacting to the announcement, Deby’s government said a ceasefire was pointless because the rebels - who last week surged across the width of Chad from bases inside Sudan - had been “decimated”. “Why a ceasefire? They don’t exist any more. With whom would we sign a ceasefire? ... We’ve got them under control,” Prime Minister Nourredine Delwa Kassire Coumakoye told the French global TV channel France 24. France ready to do its duty: In the wake of Monday’s unanimous Security Council statement, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said France - with 1,450 troops and Mirage fighter jets stationed in Chad - was ready to “do its duty” and intervene if need be.“Now there is a legal decision taken unanimously by the Security Council, and if Chad was the victim of an aggression, France could in theory have the means to oppose such action,” he said in the French coastal town of Aytre. |
| Posted by:Fred |