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19 May 2009 Al Jazeera -- Chad has admitted to
sending ground troops into neighbouring Sudan and
launching air raids to pursue armed rebels it says
Sudan had sent across the border.
Speaking to reporters in the Chadian capital, Ndjamena,
on Sunday, Chad's defence minister said his country
was merely exercising its "right of pursuit".
"After having pursued the mercenaries into Sudan,
exercising our right of pursuit, the defence and
security forces pulled back this afternoon," Adoum
Younousmi said.
"We are no longer going to allow any country to
shelter anti-Chadian rebels. No matter how far they go
into foreign territory, we are going to destroy them
wherever they are."
The official confirmation comes a day after Chad
denied accusations that it had launched a series of
air strikes on Sudanese territory on Saturday.
Younousmi said Chad forces had cleared out all rebel
bases up to 40km inside Sudan and destroyed seven
regrouping points, while "the fugitives have been
dealt with by the air force with no collateral
damage".
The Union of Forces for the Resistance (UFR), a
coalition of rebel factions based in Sudan, launched
an offensive on May 4 with the stated goal of taking
Ndjamena.
But Chad's army counter-attacked and by May 10 was
claiming victory, with Idriss Deby Itno, the president
of Chad, vowing on Saturday to wipe out the rebels and
"pursuing" them into foreign territories if necessary.
"We have used our right to pursue and that right to
pursue will continue with the support of the Chadian
people," Deby said.
"The army has decided to finish once and for all with
the mercenaries in the pay of Sudan."
Both countries have regularly accused each other of
backing fighters bent on overthrowing their respective
governments.
Call for calm
Haile Menkerios, the UN deputy secretary-general,
urged Chad to take the diplomatic path.
'The Chadian government should start negotiations with
the Chadian rebels, that should happen," Menkerios
told the AFP news agency in Addis Ababa.
"There should be a peaceful resolution of the issue
between the two countries."
Last week Chad accused Sudan of sponsoring the rebels'
advance – a charge denied by Khartoum – after the two
countries had signed a pact in Doha, Qatar.
They had agreed in that deal to normalise relations
and reject any support for rebel groups hostile to
either of them.
Chad said it had stopped the advance, after clashes
that killed 125 fighters.
Sudan denied involvement in the raid, saying it was a
confrontation between Chad's government and
"opposition groups".
Chad and Sudan resumed shaky diplomatic ties in
November after cutting them in May 2008.
Sudan has accused Deby of being involved in an attack
on the Sudanese capital by Darfur rebels on May 11,
2008.
Eastern Chad is a temporary home to about 300,000
refugees who have fled Sudan's Darfur conflict. The
region also has camps for 187,000 Chadians displaced
by fighting locally and in Darfur.
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