NAIROBI, Kenya — After a three-day advance across the desert, hundreds of rebels fought their way into the capital of Chad on Saturday, and as night fell, it remained unclear whether the government or the rebels were in control.
Rebel trucks rolled through the streets of the capital, N’Djamena, and residents stayed indoors as gunfire echoed, witnesses said.
Rebel spokesman Abderamane Koullamalah told Radio France International that they offered to coordinate the departure of President Idriss Deby with the African Union to “avoid a pointless bloodbath.”
Chad’s envoy to Ethiopia, Cherif Mahamat Zene, insisted the government remained in control. He said Deby and his Cabinet were “fine.”
“Sudan is the one behind this attack,” Zene said from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. The rebels had advanced from the direction of the Sudanese border.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack condemned the coup attempt and said the rebels had entered “from outside the country,” a clear reference to Sudan.
The government of Chad, a former French colony with a population of almost 10 million and a newly booming oil industry, has in recent years battled a variety of rebel groups along its volatile eastern border with Sudan, forcing an estimated 170,000 Chadians to flee their homes for sprawling camps in the scrubby desert.
The rebel groups accuse the president of corruption but appear to be driven more by opportunism than ideology, according to analysts.
Deby, who came to power in a 1990 coup and owns several lavish palaces in the capital, is highly unpopular. Instead of using the money to fund desperately needed schools, health clinics and roads, Deby has bought guns, attack helicopters and armored cars for his own protection.
Libya’s official news agency, JANA, reported that rebel leader Mahamat Nouri agreed to a cease-fire Saturday night after speaking to Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy, appointed by the African Union to mediate, according to The Associated Press. The report could not be confirmed.
