Adé sees heavy fighting

April 1, 2008 (AFP): Fighting erupted Tuesday morning in the far eastern part of Chad between rebels and the army, two months after the attack that nearly overthrew President Idriss Deby of Chad Itno in N'Djamena, according to a leader of the rebellion.

"There is fighting to Adé (a border town of Sudan), and they are still going," said Gadaye Ali, the spokesman of the National Alliance (AN), which includes most of the armed groups hostile to President Deby.

"Government forces arrived, they attacked us, we in turn attacked them and we are now occupying Adé," said another rebel official who requested anonymity, on joint satellite telephone from Libreville.

No Chadian army spokespersons were able to be reached at this time.

On February 2 and 3, after crossing the country from their rear bases in Sudan in less than a week, the Chadian rebels had attacked N'Djamena, causing Deby the president to hide out in his palace.

The latter later repulsed the rebels, with the assistance of military support from France.

Darfur: New Attacks in Chad Documented (Human Rights Watch)