Dead Calm Reported Inside Chad After Rebels Over-run the Capital

Dead calm was reported inside Chad throughout Saturday at least in the eastern part of the country since rebels entered the capital N’Djamena. According to a source contacted by APA in Abéché (some 851 km from N’Djamena) and through which rebels went towards the capital, “the people reportedly applauded rebel troops as they were passing by”.

In this small city of about 12, 000 inhabitants as in other nearby cities and villages, the calm situation is similar, several corroborating sources said.

“There is calm everywhere and we are freely attending to our businesses”, a humanitarian worker in Goz Beida confirmed.

The Chadian rebels reportedly captured the capital, N’djamena on Saturday following hours of fighting with government troops. However the Chadian President Idriss Déby is believed to be still in the capital.

Until the afternoon, shooting could be heard in some districts in the capital and rebels were thought to be moving “to cleanse pockets of resistance and secure the capital where looting was reported”.

Clashes reportedly took place around the presidential place where Idriss Déby is believed to be.

On Friday, columns made up of some 2, 000 rebels were about fifty kilometers away from N’Djamena and progressed in the night to capture the capital in the early hours of Saturday.

A long night is beginning in the Chadian capital faced with the resistance of President Déby against the rebels who are demanding that he peacefully resign.

By Fernand Agbewonnanou TONA, on a special assignment

Source African Press Agency

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