(AFP) – Nov 30, 2007

ABECHE, Chad (AFP) — Rebels in eastern Chad said Friday they would attack the French army or any other foreign forces deployed as part of a planned 3,500-strong peacekeeping mission to the region bordering Darfur.

"The UFDD (Union of Forces for Democracy and Development) considers itself to be in a state of belligerence against the French army or any other foreign forces on national territory," spokesman Mahamat Hassane Boulmaye said.

He said the EU mission was a "a hostile act," according to an interview with Austrian magazine profil in an interview to be published Monday.

"We will view the European soldiers as enemies, whether they are French or Austrian. For us ... all European units on our territory are enemies because they came to defend the dictator (Chadian President) Idriss Deby."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy responded by saying that the French-led European force of about 3,500 troops due to protect refugee camps along Chad's border with Darfur would nevertheless be deployed.

France is expected to supply some 1,500 soldiers to the force. Other contributors include Austria, which will send around 160 troops.

"If we decided to send a European force on one side of the border, and a mixed force to the other side, it is precisely because there are problems, difficulties," Sarkozy told reporters.

"If there were not, we would not have sent in troops," he said a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi following a summit in the French city of Nice.

In Vienna, Austrian defence ministry spokesman Stefan Hirsch told AFP the threat "does not change our determination to take part in this humanitarian mission," adding, "we are ready to go."

Abakar Tollimi, secretary general of the UFDD, told AFP that rebels would use anti-aircraft weapons against any French planes flying over their positions.

"We have working anti-aircraft capabilities to shoot at aircraft," he told AFP by satellite phone from the Gabonese capital Libreville.

France has more than 1,000 soldiers in Chad, a former French colony, as well as aircraft carrying out reconnaissance missions and transmitting information to authorities in N'Djamena.

The rebels believe "providing diplomatic, strategic and logistic support" to Deby is a "hostile act."

Since Monday fresh fighting has erupted between the Chadian army and rebels, whom Chad accuses Sudan of arming, following the break down of an October ceasefire.

On Friday French forces said they had evacuated 150 injured fighters from a conflict zone around Abeche, the main city in eastern Chad.

Spokesman Captain Christophe Prazuck said the wounded were "not necessarily" all government troops as the French "did not draw a distinction" between injured soldiers.

Gunfire was also heard Friday in the eastern town of Guereda, north east of Abeche, between government forces and another rebel group, the United Front for Change (FUC).

A Chadian army officer said the incidents were minor and would "soon be sorted out."

An FUC spokesman said: "Our men were fired upon by the army who were attempting to forcibly disarm us."

European nations have been reluctant to provide the promised 10 helicopters, nine transport planes and three medical evacuation aircraft for the force in eastern Chad and northern Central African Republic, military officials in Brussels say.

Fighting in Sudan's western Darfur region since 2003 has left more than 200,000 dead and displaced two million, according to UN figures. In Darfur itself, a UN peacekeeping force, set to number 26,000, will formally replace a small African Union mission in January.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »