VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNJ #0539/01 1041410
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 141410Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3532
INFO RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 1035
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 0691
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 0132
RUEHLC/AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE 0788
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1277
RUEHNM/AMEMBASSY NIAMEY 2582
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1665
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE 1064

UNCLAS NDJAMENA 000539 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF, AF/C, INR, DRL, DS/IP/AF, DS/IP/ITA; 
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICAWATCHERS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV AESC MOPS CH
SUBJECT: CHAD:  MORNING AFTER 
 
REF: NDJAMENA 530 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: Approximately one hundred prisoners were 
displayed on the parade grounds in Ndjamena the morning after 
the April 13 fighting, amid government nervousness that a 
number of rebels had fled.  The French are widely perceived 
to have been crucial to beating the rebels.  Some senior 
Chadian Arabs have been arrested.  Chad has kept most of its 
forces in the East and maintained control of Adre.  Most 
Embassy personnel and families who were scheduled to depart 
April 14 did so, and Peace Corps Volunteers departed this 
morning April 15.  Remaining Embassy personnel are permitted 
to go back to their houses and circulate in the city with 
caution.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) After the thunder of guns the previous day 
(reftel), Ndjamena awoke April 14 to general quiet, as the 
city largely returned to normal, in terms of businesses open, 
vehicles circulating, people milling about, and absence of 
checkpoints even before the presidential palace.  But police 
patrols and military transport continue to be more in 
evidence than normally.  Approximately one hundred claimed 
rebel prisoners were on display for journalists at the 
principal parade ground, and Chadian soldiers thought to have 
been complicit with the rebels were also on display.  There 
are reports of hospitals being much fuller than normal, with 
wounded soldiers as well civilian bystanders caught in the 
fray. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) It does not appear that the fighting on the morning 
of April 13 spread widely even in the northeastern and 
eastern sections of town.  The area of the Kempinski Hotel 
and National Assembly were hardest hit, while much of the 
gunfire and mortars must have occurred in distant suburbs or 
areas outside the city.  FSNs report that some homes in an 
outlying village were hit by the Chadian helicopter, as the 
village was thought to have sheltered rebels.   Military 
sources and FSNs report that rebels left their vehicles 
outside the city and walked in induring the course of the 
night, and once the tide of fighting went against them, some 
shed their military garb and put on Arab-style garb to blend 
into the Muslim populace.   There is widespread concern that 
some of the rebels were thus able to escape.  Police sources 
indicate that 50 rebels have regrouped in Dourbali southeast 
of Ndjamena (the direction whence the rebels came toward 
Ndjamena), and the Chadian military is moving today to 
confront them.  We are not aware of mass desertions by 
Chadian soldiers in favor of the rebels.  The populace 
appears to have given them some succor but remained largely 
neutral.  (Comment:  The battle never tilted enough in the 
rebels' favor to test military or popular loyalty, however 
tepid such loyalty appears to be, even in the military.  End 
comment.) 
 
¶4.  (SBU) We have names of two senior Chadian Arabs who have 
been detained for collusion with the rebels, Ali Mahamat Zene 
Ali Fadal (director of SOTEL and a former minister) and Col. 
Admat Fadoule Makayr, military Chief of Staff, but it appears 
that many arrests have occurred, especially among Chadian 
Arabs.  Comment: It is too early to determine whether there 
will be an Arab witchhunt, but some in the Chadian Arab 
community maintain close connections to Sudan, the janjaweed, 
and Libya.  End comment.) 
 
¶5.  (SBU) France is roundly perceived as having been 
instrumental in the victory.  Opposition leader Lol Mahamat 
Choua, speaking to the Ambassador April 14, sounded a theme 
we have heard from all sides, that French military aircraft 
bombed the rebels and gave the Chadian armed forces vital 
information about their location. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) In a radio interview, Deby's rebel relative Timan 
Erdimi April 14 regretted the rebel move 500 miles across 
Chad to Ndjamena as poorly thought out and uncoordinated (at 
least with Erdimi's fellow Zaghawa rebels).   He also claimed 
that the Darfur rebel group SLM had given the Chadian armed 
forces essential help in the simultaneous battle that has 
unfolded at Adre on the Sudanese border.  (Note:  SLM 
representative in Ndjamena Adam Shoggar called DCM as the 
rebels neared Njdamena April 12 to express concern for his 
and the Darfur rebels' safety, if the rebels were to succeed 
in taking over Ndjamena.  Deby has signficantly patched up 
relations with the SLM since last December.  End Note.) 
According to a police source in Abeche, the Chadian armed 
forces continue to hold Adre, but further attacks in the East 
are expected. 
 
¶7.  (U) With resumption of normal life in Ndjamena and a 
general sense that even if rebels are still in the vicinity 
they no longer represent a significant threat to security, 
Embassy has decided that remaining personnel can go back to 
their houses and can circulate on the streets and in the city 
with caution.   Twenty-five of 29 staff and family that 
sought voluntary departure departed on Air France on the 
evening of April 13, and the others will follow suit shortly. 
 The 29 Peace Corps Volunteers crossed the Chari River into 
Cameroon this morning, and the Peace Corps staff have also 
departed Chad or will be doing so shortly.  The American 
School is closed until further notice.   The new Departmental 
travel warning, which asks American citizens to defer travel 
to Chad, has been conveyed to the American community through 
the warden system. 
WALL