By DPA
N’Djamena/Paris : A spokesman for rebel groups seeking to overthrow Chad President Idriss Deby told a French radio station Tuesday that they had accepted “in principle” an immediate ceasefire.
“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 rebels would investigate reports of French intervention in the conflict.
He said that a ceasefire would provide the opportunity to build “a real democratic government.”
If agreed, the ceasefire would end several days of heavy fighting in the Chadian capital N’Djamena and in the east of the country, with reports of several hundred people wounded and the capital’s streets littered with bodies.
No official casualty count was possible because of the fighting, but the Chadian Red Cross was expected to scour the city for victims Tuesday, RFI said.
In addition, tens of thousands of residents fled N’Djamena because of the fighting, most of them taking refuge in neighbouring Cameroon, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.
Earlier Tuesday, the head of the rebel groups told another French radio station that French fighter-jets had bombarded rebel positions.
“Planes bombarded us since (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.”
Koulamallah said that the rebels would investigate the reports of French intervention.
French authorities have not commented on the accusation, but late Monday French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner indirectly threatened the rebels by saying that Paris “does not want to have to intervene.”