Chad broke off diplomatic relations with Sudan on Friday, accusing it of arming rebels who tried to storm the capital N'Djamena in an attack that killed 400 people.
Chadian President Idriss Deby also threatened to expel some 200,000 refugees from Sudan's troubled Darfur region living in Chad in retaliation for the rebel offensive on Thursday.
Rebels from the United Front for Change (FUC) who are fighting to overthrow Deby meanwhile said N'Djamena was still within their reach, denying government claims that the uprising had been crushed.
"For the moment there is calm, but that does not mean that we are not in range of N'Djamena," FUC spokesman Abdel Maname Mahamat Khattat told Radio France Internationale.
"It is a tactical withdrawal," he said.
The rebel offensive has triggered alarm in the international community and comes just weeks ahead of presidential elections in the oil-rich but impoverished state in sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the government, some 370 rebels and 30 soldiers died in the fighting in N'Djamena and another 150 rebels were killed in a battle at Adre, near the Sudanese border.
Deby, who has showed slain and captured rebels to his supporters, said his troops had subdued the FUC rebels in the capital and accused Khartoum of fomenting the uprising.
"We decided at a cabinet meeting this morning to break off relations unilaterally with Sudan, which continues to arm mercenaries opposed to the Chad government," he told a crowd outside his residence.
Deby said the international community had ignored his warnings that Sudan wanted to topple him and would now have to find another host for refugees from the three-year conflict in Darfur who are living in camps in eastern Chad.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol Ajawin denied that Khartoum had backed the rebel offensive in the Chadian capital.
"We hope stability will prevail in Chad because instability adversely affects the security situation in the Sudan," he said.
The Sudanese foreign ministry said it would summon the Chadian ambassador to explain his government's decision to sever diplomatic relations.
Meanwhile, the Central African Republic said it had closed its border with Sudan in order not to "facilitate an attack against Chad from its territory."
The president of Chad is seeking a third term in the May 3 elections, but major opposition parties have pledged to boycott the vote, claiming they will be neither fair nor transparent.
Deby recently survived an assassination and coup attempt, and has suffered desertions and defections from his entourage since the end of last year.
Forces loyal to the president, identifiable by their red ribbons, patrolled N'Djamena on Friday, but there were fewer military vehicles deployed than the day before.
Businesses were open and taxis were running as normal.
The government also said it was in control of the town of Adre in the east of the country near the border with Sudan where, according to humanitarian sources, fighting had been subdued on Thursday evening.
The 15-member UN Security Council on Thursday strongly condemned the rebel offensive and urged Khartoum and N'Djamena not to conduct hostile activities against each other.
The members urged the Chadian and Sudanese governments to abide by a Feb. 8 accord under in which they agreed not to shelter rebels on their respective territory and not to conduct hostile activities against each other.
The New York-based group Human Rights Watch said fighting on the border between Chad and Sudan could put refugees from Darfur at risk.
"If Chadian rebels allied with Khartoum take control of the border region, the refugee camps may be vulnerable to attack from the Sudanese government-backed Janjaweed militia," a Human Rights Watch statement said.
The Janjaweed are accused of atrocities against civilians in Darfur.
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
The latest batch from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s e-mails illustrates the extraordinary scope of his contacts with powerful people, ranging from a top Trump adviser to Britain’s ex-prince Andrew. The US House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on trying to force release of evidence gathered on Epstein by law enforcement over the years — including the identities of the men suspected of participating in his alleged sex trafficking ring. However, a slew of e-mails released this week have already opened new windows to the extent of Epstein’s network. These include multiple references to US President Donald
CHARGES: The former president, who maintains his innocence, was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for a failed coup bid, as well as an assassination plot Far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is running out of options to avoid prison, after judges on Friday rejected his appeal against a 27-year sentence for a botched coup bid. Bolsonaro lost the 2022 elections and was convicted in September for his efforts to prevent Brazlian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking power after the polls. Prosecutors said the scheme — which included plans to assassinate Lula and a top Brazilian Supreme Court judge — failed only due to a lack of support from military top brass. A panel of Supreme Court judges weighing Bolsonaro’s appeal all voted to uphold
RSS