Chad Rebellion Appears to Falter

February 6, 2008

By LYDIA POLGREEN

NDJAMENA, Chad — A rebellion aimed at toppling Chad’s president appeared to falter Tuesday as France declared that it would intervene to protect the Chadian government if called upon, and a Darfur rebel group with close ties to the Chadian government said it had sent troops to help bolster the president, Idriss Déby.

French military officials in Chad said the rebels were now far from the capital, and the streets of Ndjamena were quiet. For the first time since the weekend the sound of automatic gunfire disappeared. But the streets were virtually empty — many thousands have fled into neighboring Cameroon, and most people who remained stayed indoors, according to French soldiers who patrolled the city in armored vehicles.

The streets were littered with bodies putrefying in the hot sun and the blackened husks of pickup trucks used by government and rebel fighters, according to footage broadcast by Al Jazeera, the Arabic television network.

French support, along with assistance from rebel fighters from a Sudanese rebel group with ties to Mr. Déby’s family, strengthened the government’s position markedly.

Responding to questions from journalists in France as to whether French soldiers would intervene to help Mr. Déby’s government, the French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, said: “If France must do its duty, it will do so. Let no one doubt it.”

A commander from the Justice and Equality Movement, a Darfur rebel group that has been fighting Sudan’s government and its allied militias in the war-ravaged region for the past five years, said that some of the rebellion’s troops had left their base in eastern Chad, along the border with Sudan, to reinforce government troops.

The addition of Darfur rebels to the fray adds new confusion to a tangle of conflict that has enmeshed Chad and Sudan, two of the most violent and fragile countries in Africa. The two countries have accused one another of fostering rebellions against each other, and events in recent days point to evidence that both sides are probably right.

The Chadian rebels aimed at Ndjamena have sheltered in Sudan, something that would certainly require Sudanese government approval, analysts and diplomats say. The Darfur rebels operate openly in eastern Chad, though this is the first time they have publicly admitted to helping Mr. Déby militarily.

Despite what apparently is the retreat of the rebels, the situation remained tense. Government television and radio remained off the air, and mobile telephone networks that were taken offline to hamper rebel communication were still off Tuesday.

At least four leading opposition figures have been arrested in the past few days, including Ngarlejy Yorongar, a member of Parliament who ran against Mr. Déby once for president but lost. Reed Brody, a lawyer at Human Rights Watch, said government soldiers had burst into his house, shot and wounded Mr. Yorongar’s driver and hauled off the politician, who is one the government’s most strident critics. Three other opposition leaders were also arrested, and none have been heard from since Sunday, human rights workers said.

“These opposition leaders are at grave risk of being tortured or forcibly disappeared,” said Tawanda Hondora, director of the Africa program for Amnesty International in a statement. “The Chadian government seems to be using the current conflict with the armed opposition as a cover for arresting people peacefully opposed to government policy.”

Up to 20,000 people have fled across the river to the town of Kousseri in Cameroon, according to staff of the United Nations refugee agency who reached it Monday and are preparing for the arrival of more fugitives from the conflict. Some had found shelter with relatives, others at schools, but some 6,000 to 7,000 had reached a former transit camp near the river and were the most vulnerable, most of them spending the night in the open, the refugee agency said.

Despite the lull in the fighting Tuesday, agency staff members said civilians were still moving toward Cameroon and to the south of the city, while others were out searching for food and other supplies that have become increasingly scarce and expensive.

The agency said it was about to airlift 90 tons of supplies, enough to support 14,000 people, from Dubai to Cameroon and was preparing to move people to a better site capable of holding up to 100,000 people.