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Chadians Come Out As Calm Returns
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French Defense Minister Herv¿ Morin met with government officials in N'Djamena. The French, after receiving U.N. Security Council approval to defend the government of their former colony, made clear Tuesday that any renewed rebel assault would meet a counterattack by its sophisticated military, including fighter jets and 1,900 troops already in the country.
The rebels called for peace the same day, then appeared to be in full retreat Wednesday. Two Chadian government helicopter gunships and one military airplane fired on the rebels as they fled eastward in their pickup trucks toward Sudan, said a French military spokesman, Capt. Christophe Prazuck.
"They were chasing the rebels," he said, speaking from Paris.
Prazuck said that it was too soon to rule out a renewed rebel assault but that "with each day that's passing, it's less and less probable."
There also was little reported progress in an African Union peace initiative led by President Moammar Gaddafi of Libya, which shares its southern border with Chad.
The rebels began their daring dash across Chad's desert last week in hundreds of pickup trucks mounted with machine guns. They reached N'Djamena on Friday and attacked the city and presidential palace over the weekend before beginning a withdrawal Monday.
Analysts say the attack was part of a much larger regional struggle between Chad and Sudan, which accuse each other of backing rebels in the other's country. The rebels who attacked D¿by's palace and some of the militias who helped repel them are based in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, along the border with Chad.
David Buchbinder, a researcher for Human Rights Watch who specializes in Chad, said that only regional peace would protect civilians in the two countries. But he said the government is more focused on weakening the retreating rebels.
"I think the government doesn't want the peace," Buchbinder said. "Gaddafi is going to have to twist their arms. I don't see any leverage on the rebels' part."
In his interview with reporters, D¿by said of the rebels, "We are going to catch them before they enter Sudan."
