Battle of N'Djamena (2008)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other battles that occurred in N'Djamena, see Battle of N'Djamena.

Battle of N'Djamena Part of Civil war in Chad (2005–present) Date February 2–February 4, 2008 Location N'Djamena, Chad Result Government victory; rebels fail to take N'Djamena Belligerents UFDD rebels UFDD-F rebels RFC rebels[1] Chadian National Army France (allegedly, see below) Commanders Mahamat Nouri Aboud Mackaye Timane Erdimi Idriss Déby Itno Daoud Soumain  † Strength 2,000 rebels[2] 300 technicals[3] 2,000–3,000 Chadian soldiers[4] 20 T-55 tanks, 3 Mil Mi-24 helicopters[5] and other heavy equipment[6] Casualties and losses 200-300 killed[5] 135 captured[7] Unknown Civilian casualties: At least 160 killed and 1,000 wounded (Red Cross)[8] At least 100 killed and 700 wounded (MSF)[9] At least 400 killed (President Déby)[10] Total casualties: 700 killed, including those killed in Massaguet (President Déby)[11] v • d • e War in Chad (2005–present) Adré – Borota – Amdjereme – N'Djamena (1st) – N'Djamena (2nd)

The Battle of N'Djamena began on February 2, 2008 when Chadian rebel forces opposed to Chadian President Idriss Déby entered N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, after a three-day advance through the country. The rebels were initially successful, taking a large part of the city and attacking the heavily defended presidential palace. The palace never fell however, and two days later the governmental troops had pushed the rebels out of the city. The rebels retreated back eastward.

The assault on the capital was part of a longer military campaign to unseat the Chadian president. The array of rebels fighting against the government has shifted during the war, in this battle it was the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development, Union of Forces for Democracy and Development-Fundamental and Rally of Democratic Forces that attacked with some 2,000 men.

Contents 1 Background 2 Rebel advance toward N'Djamena 3 Battle 3.1 2 February: Battle in the city 3.2 3 February: Continued fighting and rebel withdrawal 3.3 4 February: Residents flee 4 Aftermath 5 Casualties 6 Humanitarian consequences 7 Arrests of opposition leaders 8 French involvement 9 Reactions 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Background

Soon after the beginning of the war, government forces repelled a rebel attack on the capital in April 2006 in which hundreds of people are thought to have been killed. The rebels responsible of the attack, the United Front for Democratic Change (FUC) led by Mohammed Nour Abdelkerim, rallied to the government in December;^[12] already before it was being replaced as the central force behind the rebellion by the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), founded in October 2006 and led by Mahamat Nouri.^[13]

In the summer and autumn of 2007 extenuating peace talks were held in Tripoli through Libyan mediation among the Chadian government and the four main rebel groups, that is the UFDD, the Gathering of Forces for Change (RFC), the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development-Fundamental (UFDD-F) and the Chadian National Concord (CNT). Eventually the negotiations resulted in a peace agreement signed on October 25, 2007 in Sirt, at the presence of the President Idriss Déby, the Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi and the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. As part of the deal, the rebels and the government have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, a general amnesty and the right for the rebels to join the military and form political parties.^[14][13]

In November 2007 the peace agreement collapsed and war resumed. While the CNT rallied to the government, the other signatories at Sirt decided to counter Déby by reaching a major level of military integration. Thus on December 13, 2007 the UFDD, the UFDD-F and the RFC announced the creation a Unified Military Command with a collegial leadership.^[15] The UFDD could count at this moment on 2,000-3,000 men, while the allied RFC had around 800 troops and the UFDD-F 500 troops.^[16][13]

[edit] Rebel advance toward N'Djamena

List of abbreviations used in this article UFDD: Union of Forces for Democracy and Development UFDD-F: Union of Forces for Democracy and Development-Fundamental RFC: Rally of Democratic Forces JEM: Justice and Equality Movement MSF: Médecins Sans Frontières OCHA: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs UN: United Nations

Rebel forces began their advance on N'Djamena from near the eastern border with Sudan, more than 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) of desert terrain away from N'Djamena.^[17] They moved in a column of 300 vehicles, each capable of carrying between 10 and 15 men. On January 30, 2008 rebels seized Oum Hadjer, a strategically important town in the central region of Batha, about 400 km (250 mi) from the N'Djamena. Army patrols were subsequently increased in N'Djamena in case the rebels tried to move on the capital.^[18]

Chad's military said on February 1, 2008 that it defeated the opposition fighters in Massaguet, which lies about 50 km (30 mi) northeast of the capital. Ahmad Allam-Mi, Chad's foreign minister, said that the opposition alliance had been prevented from reaching N'Djamena. "The rebels were defeated after serious clashes, the capital is calm and under control," he said on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. However, Timan Erdimi, one of the leaders in the opposition alliance said his fighters defeated the military.^[19] It was later reported that Déby's chief of staff, Daoud Soumain, was killed in an ambush after one of his aides defected to the rebels.^[20]

Amid the increasing tensions, France sent a combat unit of 126 extra troops into Chad, joining 1,100 already stationed there.^[19] 54 Irish soldiers were to land in N'Djamena as a forward troop of the European Union force meant to protect the refugee camps in eastern Chad, but this flight was postponed as the rebel advanced toward the capital.^[21] 14 Austrian soldiers arrived in N'Djamena on January 31, 2008 as part of the same force and got trapped in the city.^[22] The European Union later resumed the deployment of troops, on February 12, 2008.^[23]

[edit] Battle

[edit] 2 February: Battle in the city

Chadian rebels reportedly entered N'Djamena around 07:00 am on February 2, 2008, and were heading for the presidential palace. Eyewitnesses reported seeing rebel activity in the south and east of N'Djamena, with fighting later spreading to the area around the presidential palace. Smoke rose from the city and it shook from explosions. One resident of a western embassy told Reuters: "Rebels are headed for the palace and are about two blocks from here. The rebels are winning".^[24][25] The residence of the Saudi ambassador was hit by a bomb during the fighting, which led to the death of the wife and daughter of one of the embassy staff. Rebels in 15 vehicles drove past the Libya Hotel, which overlooks the parliament building, a few hours after the start of the battle. Fighting was reported to have died down by 12:45 pm, with the state radio station going off air around the same time.^[2]

A witness in the city told the BBC that 30 army tanks were set on fire, the town was under the rebels' control and they were firing into the air in celebration.^[26][25]

Later a military source confirmed that the rebels had taken control of the outlying neighborhoods of the capital and a good part of the city center after intense fighting with government forces. Rebel command reported they had the presidential palace surrounded, with the president inside, and they were planning to attack the palace later in the evening. Government troops were surrounding the presidential palace and using heavy weapons against the rebels.^[27]

Just before dusk government troops made an attempt to push the rebels back in the east of the city and take back some territory in the city center. However, the gains made by the military were reported to be small. The fighting during the day was so intense that at one point even French soldiers got involved when they exchanged fire with unknown gunmen while protecting one of the hotels that house hundreds of foreign nationals. Two French soldiers were slightly injured. In some parts of the city the rebels were greeted by cheering civilians.^[27][28]

JANA, Libya's official news agency, reported the same day that Libya's leader Muammar al-Gaddafi had persuaded Nouri to end the fighting.^[29] This was denied by a rebel spokesman.^[30]

[edit] 3 February: Continued fighting and rebel withdrawal

Witnesses reported hearing anti-tank and automatic weapons fire coming from the city centre, at around 05:00 am.^[31] Government helicopters attacked a column of rebels in the south of the city heading towards the main radio station. The helicopters bombed the rebels who, armed with pickup trucks mounted with cannon and machine guns, fought tanks and foot soldiers in a bid to dislodge the president from his heavily-defended palace in the west of the city. Reuters reported that the city was divided in two, with the rebels controlling the southwest.^[32] Running out of ammunition, government troops gave up the defense of the main radio station; after the rebels departed the scene, the building was looted and set on fire. Reports also say that a government helicopter that was chasing rebels hit the main market with a missile, setting off a round of looting that resulted in the market being torched.^[33]

Late on February 3, rebels said they had withdrawn temporarily from N'Djamena to give civilians time to leave the city before they launch a new offensive.^[34] The government said it pushed the rebels out of the city and the battle was over.^[35][36]

[edit] 4 February: Residents flee

Thousands of residents flooded out of the city, many Chadians crossing the border into neighbouring Cameroon and foreign nationals leaving on French military flights.^[36] The French assumed the rebels would attack again and continued to evacuate foreigners.^[36] Meanwhile, a large column from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a Darfur rebel group, was racing toward N'Djamena to attack the Chadian rebels; the rebels said they had pulled back from the city to face this threat.^[37] Sudan's official news agency reported that Mohamed Abdallah, a JEM commander, was killed in a clash with rebels near N'Djamena, and that Chadian rebels had driven off government reinforcements moving toward the city from southern Chad.^[38] In the east of the country, the JEM fought to stop a force of 2,500 Chadian rebels that were on their way from Sudan to reinforce the troops outside N'Djamena.^[5]

Later on the day there were reports of renewed fighting as rebels returned to the city,^[39] but that was soon ended by a rebel declaration of cease-fire.^[40]

[edit] Aftermath

Rebel spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah said that "the suffering of the Chadian people" had led them to agree to a cease-fire and that they had done so "in line with the peace initiatives of fraternal countries Libya and Burkina Faso". He also called for "a non-exclusive national dialogue with a view to a peaceful resolution of the Chadian conflict". Prime Minister Delwa Kassire Koumakoye, claiming victory, was dismissive of the rebel declaration of cease-fire, saying that the government had no one to sign a cease-fire with because the rebels "don't exist anymore ... We've got them under control."^[40]

The rebels remained at the fringe of the city on 5 February, claiming they could easily take the city if the French soldiers were not present.^[41] There was still sporadic shooting outside the city, but N'Djamena was calm.^[42] Chadian attack helicopters were bombing rebel positions outside the city on 6 February. The government said it would chase the rebels who withdrew on 200 technicals. There was still widespread looting in N'Djamena.^[43]

On 6 February, Déby, who was in uniform, spoke at a press conference for the first time since the battle began, after meeting with Hervé Morin, the French Minister of Defense. Déby said his forces had defeated the rebels, whom he described as "mercenaries directed by Sudan", and that his forces were in "total control" of the city as well as the whole country. Reacting to reports that he had been wounded, he gestured and declared: "Look at me, I'm fine". He said, however, that he did not know the whereabouts of more than three-fourths of the members of his government, and he warned that the issue of "traitors" would be dealt with "when the time comes".^[44] Morin suggested that the rebels were not completely routed but were waiting for reinforcements.^[44][45] The Sudanese authorities promptly denied President Déby's accusations of Sudanese involvement. When Sudanese media aired reports also claiming government participation in the attack, the government responded by reimposing a daily censorship on the press from March 6.^[46]

Koumakoye announced the imposition of a dusk-to-dawn curfew on 7 February for parts of the country, including N'Djamena, while Déby called for the European Union to send a peacekeeping force to Chad.^[47][48] Meanwhile, the rebels said they were regrouping in Mongo, 400 kilometres to the east of N'Djamena.^[48] French and Chadian officials concluded that the rebels had been routed from N'Djamena and would not attack the city again.^[49]

A month after the battle the government started digging a 3 metre deep trench around the city, with a few fortified gateways, to hinder future assaults on N'Djamena.^[50]

[edit] Casualties

No confirmed numbers of dead were reported, but people on the ground reported seeing bodies lying in the city streets.^[51] Aid agency MSF said on 3 February there were "a lot of dead bodies" in the city, and that 300 people were being treated in hospitals.^[52] MSF said after the battle that hospitals had counted 100 killed civilians and nearly 700 wounded.^[9] Red Cross officials spoke on February 5 of "hundreds" of civilians killed in the fighting,^[53] and over a thousand wounded.^[54] They later said over 160 civilians had been killed.^[8] Corpses of more than ten military and civilian victims were sprawled across Avenue Mobutu, a main thoroughfare. The charred hulks of two tanks and several pickup trucks, used by both sides in the fighting, littered the street.^[6] On March 6, President Déby gave an estimate of 700 killed in the city, most of them civilians.^[55]

[edit] Humanitarian consequences

Most humanitarian staff was evacuated from Chad, and at least 30,000 refugees left to Cameroon according to the UN official Sophie de Caen.^[56] Amidst concerns about the fate of half a million refugees in eastern Chad relayed by the UN,^[57] a small skeleton team of UN staff headed by OCHA official Eliane Duthoit remained in N'Djamena throughout the fighting in order to discuss humanitarian access and activities, as well as protection of civilians, with the warring parties.^[58]

The needs of Chadians in Cameroon were initially dire, but then came under control. The response of the international community was good, among others thanks to a donation from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund.^[59]

[edit] Arrests of opposition leaders

Government soldiers reportedly arrested opposition leaders Lol Mahamat Choua, Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh and Ngarlejy Yorongar on February 3.^[60] They were also said to have attempted to arrest Saleh Kebzabo, but he was not present at his home.^[60]

The government denied the reported arrests of the opposition leaders, saying that they had gone missing in rebel-controlled parts of the city,^[61] but it later acknowledged that Choua was being held with prisoners of war, and the French ambassador was allowed to visit him in a military prison.^[62] He was freed from prison before March.^[63] Eventually, Yorongar also reemerged: he was found in Cameroon on March 2^[64] He reached France on March 6, and claimed to have fled from Chadian security forces that had captured him. He added that he had seen Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh getting beaten by the same forces, likely to death.^[65]

The crackdown by the security forces, according to Human Rights Watch, also involved other individuals, and was legalized with the proclamation of a state of emergency on February 14, conceding sweeping powers to security forces to arrest and detain people without charge. By March 15, 2008, when the state of emergency expired, 15 Chadians had been arrested, and there are suspicions that the actual number is higher. Of those arrested, 11 are from the Gorane ethnic group, the same of Mahamat Nouri, the main insurgent commander, which has raised fears that the government is arresting people at least in part for their ethnicity. Human rights campaigners said that many Goranes were fleeing from the capital.^[66][67][68]

The European Union expressed "deep concern" over the arrests, and EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel called for the "immediate release" of the opposition leaders.^[69]

[edit] French involvement

French forces have been present in Chad since 1986, during the Chadian-Libyan War. The French deployment is code-named Operation Epervier. Prior to, but especially after the 2006 Battle of N'Djamena, French airplanes have participated in reconnaissance missions to determine the scope of Sudanese involvement.^[70]. The French forces also played a small but important part in the 2006 battle, where they provided logistical support to the government but without taking sides in the fighting; they also provided the Chadian army with intelligence on the enemy's movemements, and fired warning shots near the rebel column.^[71]

At the beginning of the 2008 battle, French soldiers evacuated hundreds of French citizens and other foreigners to Libreville in Gabon, while hundreds more came under French military protection at five assembly points in N'Djamena.^[31][33] This included 103 UN aid workers, from 150 that have left in total.^[72] According to the French military, they had evacuated 580 foreign nationals by 3 February, leaving 320 to be airlifted on 4 February.^[33] In total, nearly 1,300 foreigners were evacuated by France during the battle.^[9] France also volunteered to evacuate President Déby on 3 February, but that offer was rejected.^[31]

There was a brief exchange of fire on 2 February between rebels and French soldiers guarding the international airport, which was used by the French to evacuate people but also housed four Chadian army helicopters.^[73] French Mirage F1 fighters conducted reconnaissance flights over rebel positions, but by February 3 all six aircraft operating from N'Djamena were moved to Libreville for safety.^[74][4] On 4 February two Mirage fighters returned and continued reconnaissance flights.^[73] Rebels accused these planes of opening fire, but those reports were unconfirmed. France denied having taken part of any combat during the battle.^[75]

On February 5 President Sarkozy said that the French would be ready to intervene militarily if need be.^[76] France had provided the Chadian government logistic support and intelligence during the battle.^[41]

The French newspaper La Croix cited French diplomats and servicemen on February 7, who reported that French officers had coordinated a Chadian attack on a rebel column in Massaguet on February 1, provided information on rebel movements, delivered munitions through Libya, and sent special forces to fight rebels in the capital.^[77] The use of special forces was strongly denied by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner the following day.^[78]

[edit] Reactions

• The Sudanese government has denied President Idriss Déby's accusations of backing the rebels. Instead, intelligence forces chief Salah Gosh declared on February 7 that Sudan had "called for the evacuation of the opposition from N'Djamena and the opposition agreed" and "joined efforts with the Libyans on reaching a ceasefire."^[79]
• African leaders condemned the opposition alliance's march on N'Djamena at an African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. "The assembly strongly condemns the attacks perpetrated by armed groups against the Chadian government and demands that an immediate end be put to these attacks and resulting bloodshed," the declaration said.^[80]
• According to a rebel spokesman, Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi proposed a ceasefire to Union of Forces for Democracy leader Mahamat Nouri, who said that he would agree to it if "his two other partners in the rebellion would agree as well."^[31]
• United States embassy personnel assisted in evacuation of Americans, and the embassy staff was drawn down to 4, located with the French at the airport.^[81]
• United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for a ceasefire before a UN emergency meeting in New York.^[82] The United Nations Security Council called on all member-states to back the Chadian government.^[83]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• In Pictures: Fighting in Chad (BBC News)
• "Chad rebels 'in control' of N'djamena" at YouTube (video report from Al Jazeera English, 3 February 2008)
• "Chadian president remains defiant" at YouTube (video report from Al Jazeera English, 7 February 2008)

v • d • e   Civil war in Chad (2005–present) Rebel groups  Union of Forces for Democracy and Development · Union of Forces for Democracy and Development-Fundamental · United Front for Democratic Change · Platform for Change, Unity and Democracy · Rally for Democracy and Liberty · Rally of Democratic Forces · National Movement for Reform and Development · Justice and Equality Movement · Janjaweed History and events Darfur conflict · Second Battle of Adré · Battle of Borota · Tripoli Agreement · Amdjereme raid · Dalola raid · Chadian presidential election, 2006 · Battle of N'Djamena (2006) · 2006 Chadian coup d'état attempt · Mediation of the Chadian-Sudanese conflict · Dakar Accord · Battle of N'Djamena (2008)