By DPA
N’Djamena/Paris : A spokesman for rebel groups seeking to overthrow Chadian President Idriss Deby told a French radio station Tuesday they had accepted “in principle” an immediate ceasefire even as France said it would intervene, if necessary.
“We now want a national dialogue and a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” Abderaman Koulamallah told RFI radio. “We want to stop the war and start a dialogue.”
He said that a ceasefire would provide the opportunity to build “a real democratic government.” The ceasefire proposal had been put forward by Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi and the authorities of Burkina Faso, Koulamallah said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy Tuesday restated his government’s commitment to Deby by saying, “If Chad is the victim of an aggression, France would have – and I used the conditional tense – the means to counter this action.”
He said that Paris now had the green light to intervene if necessary. “Now there is a legal decision by the (UN) Security Council … If it must do its duty, France will. Let there be no doubt about that.”
However, it was unclear just how much leeway to act Monday’s declaration by the Security Council gives the French, who have more than 2,000 soldiers stationed in their former colony, most of them in the capital N’Djamena.
Following a meeting Monday, the council issued a statement calling on UN members “to provide support, in conformity with the UN Charter, as requested by the government of Chad.”
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Tuesday that France had “no intention of interfering militarily” in Chad. Two years ago, French air force planes had attacked rebel columns as they advanced on N’Djamena.
The ceasefire proposal has, for the moment, ended several days of combat in N’Djamena and in the east of the country.
Chadian Foreign Minister Ahmat Allam-Mi said Tuesday in Paris, after a meeting with Kouchner, that his government was “prepared to offer our hand” to secure a ceasefire.
The rebels had withdrawn from the capital Sunday following two days of intense fighting around the presidential palace.
They said that they were only withdrawing to allow civilians to leave the city. But Chadian authorities said that their forces had driven the rebels out and inflicted a heavy defeat on them.
“We have chased them out of the city,” Allam-Mi said. “They are now 50 km away from N’Djamena.”
However, Kouchner said that, while there was no fighting Tuesday in or around the capital, combat could break out at any time in the city’s suburbs.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday that many people had died and at least 1,000 were wounded in the fighting in the capital.
Residents leaving N’Djamena said that the city’s streets were littered with bodies. The Chadian Red Cross was expected to scour the city for victims Tuesday, RFI said.
In addition, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said as many as 20,000 civilians had fled N’Djamena because of the conflict, most of them taking refuge in neighbouring Cameroon.
The French Army said Tuesday that more than 1,000 foreign nationals had been evacuated from Chad to Gabon since the conflict broke out Saturday.
A spokesman for the French Army’s chief of staff also repudiated charges by Chadian rebels that French fighter-jets had bombarded their positions.
Christophe Prazuck said that French planes had not fired a single shot in the conflict. “These claims are without any basis,” he said.
Earlier Tuesday, the head of the rebel groups told another French radio station that French fighter-jets had attacked rebel positions.
“Planes bombarded us from (Monday) morning until about one o’clock this morning (Tuesday),” General Mahamat Nouri told Europe 1 radio.
Asked if the rebels were capable of launching another attack against Deby and taking N’Djamena, Nouri replied: “Absolutely. It’s certain, without the French army, yes.”
Tuesday, Kouchner said that the civil conflict made it “more important than ever” that the 3,700-strong European Union force (EUFOR) put together to secure Chad’s borders be deployed. However, he said the fighting would delay their deployment for “a few days.”