Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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Chad Claims Victory Over Rebels in Capital
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=11C7873:3919ACA Chadian military
official says fighting broke out when forces staged early morning
attack on rebel positions, within 100 kilometers of N'Djamena Fears of
a possible coup are mounting in Chad, where rebel forces are reported
to be within one hundred kilometers of the country's capital,
N'Djamena.







Based in Sudan's western Darfur region, a rebel group calling itself
the United Front for Chad launched a campaign last October to topple
Chadian President Idriss Deby. Now, a Chadian military official tells
Western journalists that fighting broke out when Chadian forces staged
an early morning attack on rebel positions, within 100 kilometers of
the capital.

The fear of a possible coup comes just weeks before Chad holds its
national elections, which opposition groups have vowed to boycott on
grounds that the ruling party has an unfair advantage.

In much of Chad, President Deby's political standing has been eroded
by his inability to stem the continuing violence in Sudan's Darfur
region, which has spilled into Chad's eastern reaches. Also, President
Deby has been widely criticized for alleged mismanagement of the
country's oil wealth.


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