After a calm night following the intense violent exchange between rebel and government forces on Saturday, Sunday has been crippled with more intense fighting. Government forces are retaliating with unparalleled military action.
After a calm night following the intense violent exchange between rebel and government forces on Saturday, Sunday has been crippled with more intense fighting. Government forces are retaliating with unparalleled military action.
Helicopters have hit a rebel base near the national radio station while army tanks are reported to hit anyone seen close to the site. Although no official report on the number of people killed so far has been given, lots of bodies are supposedly scattered over the city “some burnt and some just hacked”… Medecins Sans Frontiers, reports that about 300 people are being treated against lots of dead bodies in the streets.
The rebels condemned the French for allowing government aircrafts to fly from the airport. A rebel spokesman (Abderaman Khoulamallah) told AFP, “We did not take the airport so as not to hinder the evacuation of foreign nationals and now the French army is letting those aircrafts take off and attack us.”
Rebels who claim government forces are defecting to their camp have a total of 2000 men fighting in the capital. Meanwhile the French defence minister has said that forces loyal to President Deby total between 2000 and 3000 men. President Deby who is still reported to be under the safety of the presidential palace has refused offers from the French president Nicolas Sarkozy to be flown out of the country. President Deby who came to power in a similar rebel force and has been in power since 1990, changed the country’s constitution in 2005 to allow him to run for a third term in office, sparking discontentment, reported Stephanie Hancock of the bbc.
Despite claims by General Abadi Sair of the ruling government that Sudan was in connivance with the rebels in their Sunday’s attack at the border town of Adre in the east, – where Sudanese Choppers and Antonov military aircraft were spotted – the Sudanese government has denied firmly denied its involvement. About 400,000 people have been displaced so far in the conflict that hit Adre. It is also believed that both goverments have supported rebel groups on each other’s territory.
The international community has started a massive evacuation of foreign nationals, while Chadians are reported to be fleeing towards the Cameroonian border.
