Word: chads
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...relative calm returned to the streets of N'Djamena after rebel forces withdrew Sunday to the outskirts of the Chadian capital following a weekend of heavy fighting with government troops. The lull in the violence allowed the French Army to airlift over 800 foreigners out of Chad, 202 of whom touched down in Paris Sunday, tired but unharmed. The rebels retreated in the face of a successful counter-offensive mounted by units loyal to President Idriss Déby. But fears remained high in N'Djamena and abroad that the retreat is temporary and that the bloodletting...
...storming of N'Djamena marked the climax in a rapid and effective offensive by the rebels, who crossed into Chad from Sudan in a column of about 300 vehicles Thursday, and began their 200-mile push toward the capital. Eyewitness accounts from French nationals interviewed by French radio supported rebel claims that they were mopping up the last pockets of resistance by government forces in the city, despite government sources insisting they remain in control. Mahamat Ali Abdallah Nassour - a Chadian general who also carries several ministerial titles - insisted to Radio France International that "the Chadian defense and security forces...
...France, the former colonial power in Chad, Elysée officials told TIME that President Nicolas Sarkozy had spoken on the phone to Déby on Saturday to reiterate his support. Those officials wouldn't say whether any plans were afoot to evacuate Déby to Paris, however. And while France dispatched an additional 150 soldiers from Gabon to join the permanent 1,450 French troops posted in Chad, their mission seemed to be to help airlift foreign citizens to safety rather than to save the government...
...even if France refrains from propping up its longtime ally, the rebels are unlikely to find much international support if they do take power. Rebel action has forced a delay in the deployment of 3,700 French-led European Union troops in Chad to set up humanitarian corridors for refugees from neighboring Darfur. Many member states of both the African Union (AU) and European Union (EU), in fact, accuse Sudan of having financed, trained, and armed the Chadian rebels as a proxy army to take down the Déby government. French Defense Minister Hervé Morin put both...
...Suspicion and hostility towards Chad's rebels was echoed by the African Union, whose new president, Tanzanian Jakaya Kikwete, pledged that "in case of a rebel victory, we'll excommunicate them from the African Union". Even the region's former bad boy sponsor of rebellions, Libyan leader Mohammar Ghaddafi, condemned the rebel offensive as "a flagrant violation" of African security accords. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon noted that with violence and instability rife in throughout the area, "these developments are extremely dangerous, and could provoke an escalation throughout the region...