By KUNA
Paris : Amid accusations by Chad that Libya and Sudan are supporting an insurgency to overthrow President Idriss Deby, France stressed that the problems in this country had a “regional dimension” and must be dealt with through international mechanisms, specifically the UN and African Union (AU).
Spokeswoman of the French foreign ministry told reporters here that “the international community has always underlined that this crisis had a regional dimension, it is for this reason that it decided to deploy the African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), the European Union Force (EUFOR) and the UN-AU hybrid force in order to respond to the regional consequences to the crisis in Darfur.” The Chadian Prime Minister had accused today Libya of arming and supporting the Chadian rebels coming from Sudan.
Meanwhile, Andreani said that as the UN Security Council has done, “we support the mediation of the Libyan and Congolese Presidents who are mandated by the AU and aim to put an end as quickly as possible to the current situations.” A request has been put forward by the AU, which asked Libya and Congo to help mediate the Chadian crisis. There are over 1,400 French soldiers based in Chad and they have been crucial in evacuating over 1,200 French and foreign civilians caught up in the fighting. France denies its troops have had any role in the fighting, except to repel attacks on columns transporting refugees.
France also withdrew last weekend its Mirage F1 fighters to a safer area in Gabon.