Chadian rebel chief threatens attack on oil region
DAKAR (Reuters) - A Chadian rebel leader threatened onSunday to attack Chad's southern oil-producing Doba regionunless France and the United States put pressure on PresidentIdriss Deby to start a dialogue with his foes.
Timane Erdimi, head of the Rally of Forces for Change (RFC)which attacked Chad's capital N'Djamena early in February alongwith other rebels groups, said his forces could halt oilproduction from installations in southern Chad pumping up to160,000 barrels per day (bpd).
"We can carry the war to the south ... if the Americans andthe French don't put pressure on Deby to open an all-inclusivedialogue with political and military players," Erdimi toldReuters in a telephone interview.
He said the Doba basin, where U.S. oil major Exxon MobilCorp heads a consortium pumping 140,000-160,000 bpd of oil viaa pipeline to Cameroon's Atlantic coast, could become amilitary target unless Paris and Washington did more to achievea political settlement.
"We could quite easily halt the flow of oil," he said.
He was speaking from the Sudanese capital Khartoum threedays after Chad's Deby and his Sudanese counterpart Omar Hassanal-Bashir signed a non-aggression pact in Dakar, Senegal inwhich they agreed to stop backing rebels hostile to each other.
DAKAR ACCORD
The Chadian rebels, both Erdimi's RFC and another group,the National Alliance led by Mahamat Nouri, say the Dakaraccord does not concern them and have vowed to go on fightingDeby.
The rebels besieged Deby, a French-trained ex-pilot whoseforces had intelligence and logistical support from France'smilitary, in his palace for two days before pulling back.
The rebel coalition has since split politically, but Erdimisaid they were still cooperating militarily and could strike atthe oil-producing south, which has been spared attacks so far.
"The government only controls N'Djamena and the town ofAbeche (in the east). That's it," Erdimi said.
Chad's southern oil region borders to the east with CentralAfrican Republic, whose lawless northern territory Chadianrebels have crossed through in the past to strike at N'Djamena.
RFC leader Erdimi is a nephew of Deby and a formerpresidential adviser who went over to the rebel ranks threeyears ago. His brother Tom, who also defected with him, waspreviously in charge of the Chadian government's oil policy.
Erdimi said he was "very disappointed" in the failure ofthe international community -- especially France, the UnitedStates and the European Union --- to put real pressure on Debyto seek a negotiated settlement with his armed opponents.
"They're adopting a policy of putting their heads in thesand, they don't want to talk to us," Erdimi said.
"There are hidden interests," he added.
He said French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government,despite protestations to the contrary, was still applying itstraditional "Francafrique" policy in which France supportedAfrican leaders as it chose in its former colonies like Chad,regardless of their democratic and human rights credentials.
"The Americans say that ... as long as the oil is flowing,then everything else is not their affair," Erdimi said.
Exxon Mobil's other partners in the World Bank-backed $3.7billion Doba pipeline, which started pumping crude in 2003, areanother U.S. company, Chevron Corp, and Malaysia's state runPetronas.
Deby's critics accuse him of corrupt, dictatorial rule thathas heavily favoured his own Zaghawa family clan since he tookpower himself in an eastern revolt in 1990.
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(Editing by Sami Aboudi)