Chadian rebels clash with gov’t forces in capital; head toward presidential palace–Associated Press, February 2, 2008

Hundreds of rebels penetrated the capital of Chad today, clashing with government troops and moving on the presidential palace after a three-day advance through the oil-producing central African nation, officials and witnesses said.

Chad’s ambassador to Ethiopia said the capital had not fallen and that President Idriss Deby was "fine" in his palace.

"The situation is under control," ambassador Cherif Mahamat Zene told The Associated Press. "The head of state is fine in his palace … It’s true that there are some rebels who have entered the city, but to say the city has fallen is false."

A French military spokesman, Col. Thierry Burkhard, said that Chadian government forces were pushing rebels away from the presidential palace but that the outcome of the fighting today remained unclear. To read the rest of the story, click the link above.

As if Eritrea and Ethiopia resuming border battles and bickering is not enough for Africa, now Sudan is charging that Chad is attacking across their mutual border.  The conflict between Sudan and Chad is a direct result of the Darfur War in western Sudan and the ongoing civil wars in Chad and the Central African Republic.

See:

Sudan
accuses Chad of troop incursion,
bombardment–AFP, Dec. 28, 2007

Sudan
accuses Chadian army of violating its
territory–Sudan Tribune, Dec. 28, 2007

The main rebel group in Chad, the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), has declared war on France. France, along with Austria, Sweden, Ireland, and other European Union members, are putting together a 3,500 man peacekeeping force in response to the warfare in Chad and neighboring Sudan’s Darfur region. The rebels allege French involvement in the war on the side of the government.

The UFDD is a coalition of several small rebel armies who seek to overthrow the government of President Idriss Deby, who invaded Chad himself in 1990 to overthrow the then-President Hissene Habre. Chad’s proven method of regime-change is through the barrel of a gun, with multiple coups, rebellions, interventions, and invasions in its history as an independent nation.

Since France freed Chad from its bondage as a piece of its decaying colonial empire in 1960, French troops and air power have intervened several times in the nation’s unending series of civil wars and rebellions. The current rebels allege French aid to the government, it is most likely true, based on France’s past actions in Chad and other former colonies.

As to why France may be motivated to get involved in a war not its own, one only needs to look at the fact that in 2003, Chad became an exporter of oil.

Sources:

Chadians declare war on France–Telegraph.uk

France plays down Chad war claim–BBC