Chad’s prime minister rejects rebel ceasefire

CHAD’S Prime Minister Nourredine Delwa Kassire Coumakoye yesterday rejected a ceasefire with rebels who fought their way into the capital and blamed neighbouring Sudan for the insurgency.

A rebel alliance which seized large parts of the capital Ndjamena at the weekend responded to a non-binding UN Security Council statement opening the way to foreign military intervention by agreeing to a ceasefire.

“Why a ceasefire? They [the rebels] don’t exist any more. With whom would we sign a ceasefire?... We’ve got them under control,” said Mr Coumakoye.

“We don’t just have control of the situation. There is no more rebellion. They have all been decimated. Those who remain are being pursued about 50 km from the capital.”

Mr Coumakoye accused the Khartoum government of being behind the attack, after the rebels crossed Chad last week from bases in the west Sudanese border region of Darfur, where Sudan’s army and Arab militias have cracked down on a rebellion.

“We say we are being attacked by Sudan because these elements who came were there in the shape of the Sudanese army.

“The majority are children recruited in the madrassas [Koranic schools] who don’t understand a word of Chadian. They aren’t Chadians. They’re the Sudanese people’s army.”