/ 1 December 2010

Chad army confronts rebels in CAR

Chad’s army says it has entered the north-west part of neighbouring Central African Republic and pushed out a group of rebels that had attempted to take a town there.

The army chief said late on Tuesday that soldiers crossed the border to the town of Birao, which was occupied by rebels from the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace movement. The army says no children or women were killed in the short operation, but did not give details on combatant deaths.

The rebels had entered the town last week.

Chad and the Central African Republic are both impoverished Central African nations grappling with the spill-over from violence in Sudan’s Darfur province. — Sapa-AP