Chadian army claims recapture of town from rebels

[XXPANTHAXX]

Chadian rebels continued their drive to unseat the president, moving on
the capital in an onslaught that has spawned alarm across the
international community.

Even as Chad's government claimed its forces had retaken a key
crossroads town in the centre of the northern African state, rebels from
the United Front for Change (FUC) were spotted only 100 kilometres (60
miles) from N'Djamena.

"It would seem that there have been clashes between rebel forces and
Chadian soldiers" in a town near the capital, a high-ranking French
military source at the defense ministry in Paris said, later indicating
the rebels had stopped for the night.

Paris, which already has 1,200 soldiers in the country, on Wednesday
ordered another 150 there in response to a worsening security situation
that has triggered alarm from African and Western countries and comes
just weeks ahead of presidential elections.

"The situation is uncertain", a Chadian military source told AFP on
condition of anonymity, describing clashes between the rivals outside
the capital, at Dourbali. But, he added, "Chad's army has the advantage
for now".

The FUC, which seeks to oust President Idriss Deby Itno, has stepped up
its attacks in central and eastern Chad, occupying two UN-run refugee
camps on Monday before seizing the crossroads town, Mongo.

Mongo, which lies on an intersection of north-south and east-west roads
400 kilometres east of N'Djamena, was captured Tuesday by hundreds of
FUC fighters.

The government said Wednesday it had wrested back control but the report
was dismissed by the FUC as "completely false".

Defence Minister Bichara Issa Djadallah told AFP Mongo had been "under
the control of the Chadian army since 7:00 pm" (1800 GMT) Tuesday and
that army helicopter had attacked rebel positions west of the town.

"The situation is under control," the minister added. "The rebels' plan
is suicidal, they are encircled everywhere."

But an FUC spokesman, Abdoulaye Abdelkerim, said: "Mongo has not been
retaken by the Chadian army, it is completely false."

The rebels' representative in France, former Chadian foreign minister
Laona Gong, told French television late Wednesday that the FUC now
controlled "more than 80 percent" of Chadian territory and that its men
were practically on the doorstep of N'Djamena.

Inside the capital, while AFP saw Chadian army tanks and pick-up trucks
mounted with gun turrets head off to meet the rebel offensive, the
streets were calm and business continued.

Merchants kept market stalls open near the main mosque, one telling AFP
the rebel challenge "doesn't concern us", but foreign missions warned
their nationals to keep indoors and many schools closed for the day.

International reactions denounced the rebel offensive in the oil-rich
state, which borders Sudan's violence-wracked Darfur region and plays
host to hundreds of thousands of refugees from that civil war.

The African Union "firmly condemned" the FUC attacks, especially on
UN-run camps housing refugees from Sudan's neighbouring Darfur region.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was "deeply concerned" by the
rise in fighting and its spillover into the Central African Republic.

A spokesman for the French foreign ministry, Jean-Baptiste Mattei, said
France was "following with concern the current events".

A high-ranking military source in Paris said French troops would not
take part in combat missions, restricting themselves to intelligence
support to the Chadian authorities.

Washington said it was "deeply disturbed" by the situation and the EU
foreign policy chief Javier Solana voiced "profound concern".

The United States and the United Nations have decided to evacuate the
bulk of their non-essential staff "in the coming days" from the capital,
a diplomatic source said.

Deby is seeking re-election for a third term, but major opposition
parties have pledged to boycott the May 3 poll, claiming they will be
neither fair or transparent.

The president recently survived an assassination and coup attempt, and
has suffered desertions and defections from his entourage since the end
of 2005.

He claimed last month that the army had put an end to the rebellion in
the east, but two weeks ago the FUC, an umbrella group of various rebel
movements, led an attack on the town of Moudeina during which army chief
of staff Abakar Youssouf Itno, a nephew of the president, was killed.