Chad army battles rebels

Due to heavy fighting and instability throughout the country the UN has had to abandon 2 refugee camps in the East of Chad and left the management of the camps, for the time being, to the tribal elders of the camps.

The cell phone service in Chad has been disconnected and I haven’t been able to reach anyone there since yesterday. The rebels appear to be about 100 km from N’djamena, maybe closer at this point.

Evacuation plans are already in place for expatriates in country, though it’s not clear if they have begin to do so or not. The situation is growing more volatile by the minute. This recent fighting in Chad has caused the delay of EU Peace Keepers that were already set to begin arriving just days before the escalations.

Chad’s army fought to hold off advancing rebels 60 miles from the capital N’Djamena on Friday and the renewed combat delayed the deployment of European peacekeepers to the central African country.

Up to 3,700 European Union troops were due to arrive in coming weeks on an urgent peacekeeping mission to eastern Chad, but anti-government rebels pre-empted the deployment with a lightning offensive this week towards the capital in the west.

As Chadian troops battled to halt the rebel advance northeast of N’Djamena, France airlifted in reinforcements for its military contingent in Chad under a bilateral defence treaty with the former French colony.

The French military said its Mirage jets and soldiers were giving logistics, medical and intelligence support to President Idriss Deby’s army, but were not engaged in direct combat.

An EU spokesman said the “increased instability” meant the deployment of the first European troops was being delayed.

“At the moment we don’t want to blow this out of proportion, but yes, a flight of Irish troops yesterday and two flights today have been postponed,” the spokesman said in Brussels.

The situation would be monitored “hour by hour”, he said.

Posted by glaszrai
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