DAKAR (Reuters) - A Chadian rebel leader threatened on Sunday to attack Chad's southern oil-producing Doba region unless France and the United States put pressure on President Idriss Deby to start a dialogue with his foes.
"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," Timane Erdimi,head of the Chadian rebel Rally of Forces for Change (RFC),told Reuters by telephone.
He said the Doba basin in southern Chad, where U.S. oilmajor Exxon Mobil Corp heads a consortium pumping140,000-160,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil via a pipeline toCameroon's Atlantic coast, could become a military targetunless Paris and Washington did more to achieve a politicalsettlement.
Erdimi's RFC was part of an anti-Deby rebel coalition thatattacked Chad's capital N'Djamena early in February. Itbesieged the president in his palace for two days beforepulling back.
The rebel coalition has since split politically, but Erdimisaid they were still cooperating militarily and could "easily"strike at the oil-producing south, which has been sparedinsurgent attacks so far.
"The government only controls N'Djamena and the town ofAbeche (in the east). That's it," Erdimi said, speaking fromthe Sudanese capital Khartoum.
(Reporting by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Sami Aboudi)
