Sudanese-backed rebels closed in on a key town in the east of Chad on Tuesday, said a Chadian minister, as the government denounced its neighbor for breaking a freshly signed peace deal.
The rebels swept deep into Chadian territory in hundreds of vehicles in a lightning offensive that began on Monday, government spokesman Mahamat Hissene said.
Hissene, Chad’s communications minister, said the rebels had penetrated around 100km inside Chadian territory and were closing in on the town of Goz Beida.
“They are on board several hundred vehicles. We’ve been tracking their movements since [they left] Sudan,” he said. “However, for the moment there has been no contact with government forces.”
Inhabitants of Goz Beida reached by telephone said all was quiet.
“The town is calm,” said one young local, who asked not to be named. “It is the aid agencies who let us know that the rebels had been spotted around Goz Beida.”
“There is no fighting here,” said Ahmat, a driver. “There are no problems.”
Earlier on Tuesday, international sources had reported exchanges of fire between the Chadian air force and rebel columns heading for the town, but neither side has confirmed this.
“Our men are on a line between Goz Beida and Abeche,” two key towns in eastern Chad, a rebel spokeswoman said.
The arid central African country and neighboring Sudan have for years traded accusations that each side backs rebels in the other.
Earlier, Hissene accused Sudan itself of sending “several armed columns” into Chad, also in violation of the peace agreement.
Khartoum has denied any involvement, but the Sudanese media center, close to the intelligence services in Sudan, reported bloody clashes on Monday at the border between Chadian troops and rebels.
France said on Tuesday it was worried about the security of civilians.
“We are following with great concern the situation in the east of Chad,” foreign ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier told a press conference in which he called on both countries to implement the peace deal brokered on Sunday.
The rebel assault is a blow to long-running diplomatic efforts to secure a thaw in relations between Khartoum and Ndjamena.
Brokered by Qatar and Libya, Sunday’s deal was regarded as essential to any lasting settlement to the six-year-old uprising in the western Sudanese province of Darfur that has spilled over into Chad and the Central African Republic.
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