Lightning rebel advance on capital postpones EU troop plans for Chad
Chadian rebels advanced through the country's capital on the weekend, laying siege to the presidential palace and in the process leaving the European Union's peacekeeping plans for the beleaguered country in tatters.
A spokesman for the planned EU force, EUFOR, Commandant Dan Harvey said on Sunday (3 February): "The deployment is postponed until the security situation stabilises," according to the Irish Times.
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The rapid advance of the rebels has taken both the Chadian government of President Idriss Deby and the EU by surprise. European troops were to enter the country with the aim of protecting hundreds of thousands of Darfurian refugees from the threat of raids from neighbouring Sudan.
The French military, which is to make up the bulk of the 3,700-strong EU deployment, puts the number of rebels in N'Djamena at 2,500. Aid agencies say bodies fill the streets and shops across the capital are the target of widespread looting as government forces attack the rebels with helicopters and tanks.
The Deby government accuses Sudan of backing the rebels in order to scupper the imposition of European troops. Khartoum has denied this, and in turn accuses Chad of supporting rebels in Sudan.
Both UN and US embassy personnel have been evacuated from the country in recent days.
EU ambassadors met on Sunday to discuss the deteriorating situation in Chad. The EU's Political and Security Committee is also to meet on Tuesday to review developments.
Over 400,000 refugees from Sudan's Darfur region are in Chad, with some 180,000 of Chad's own citizens also internally displaced.
Some 70 EU troops are already in N'Djamena constructing bases.
