CHAD

Army and rebels clash outside presidential palace

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Military sources say that fighting is taking place outside the presidential palace in N'Djamena. President Idriss Déby's whereabouts are unaccounted for. (Story by K. Williams)

Fighting between Chadian rebels and government forces was raging Saturday near the presidential palace in the capital Ndjamena, military sources said.

The whereabouts of President Idriss Deby was not immediately known.

Clashes began around 8 am (0700 GMT) around 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the city, rebel and military sources said. Heavy arms fire, at first sporadic and increasingly intense and regular, could be heard in central Ndjamena.

Witnesses said rebels had entered the east and southern part of the city.

Deby was reportedly at the battlefront on Friday afternoon. He returned to Ndjamena after his forces failed to turn back the rebels in fighting at Massaguet around 50 kilometres north of the capital.

He spent the night in the presidential palace, sources close to the presidency said, but no independent confirmation was available.

French authorities have called on all French citizens living in Ndjamena to stay at home and not go out, a French foreign ministry spokesman in Paris said.

France has around 1,500 citizens living in Chad, 85 percent of them in the capital. The French embassy overnight began preparing for their possible evacuation.

related links

02/02/08 Fighting near Ndjamena; French prepare evacuation