N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - A missing Chadian opposition leader surfaced in Cameroon on Monday, a month after he was abducted from his home during a failed rebel assault on the capital N'Djamena.
Human rights groups had called on Chadian President IdrissDeby to clarify the whereabouts of parliamentarian NgarlejyYorongar after he disappeared on February 3, one of threeopposition figures to go missing as government forcesreestablished control of the capital.
"I can only respect Cameroonian authorities and not giveinterviews at present," Yorongar told Radio FranceInternational from the Cameroonian capital Yaounde.
Cameroon has given Yorongar 48 hours to arrange for asylumin a European country, RFI reported.
Asked where he would go, Yorongar replied: "I have startedthe formalities with several (countries) before taking a finaldecision."
African civil rights group RADDHO said in a statementYorongar was ill after being tortured in captivity, anddemanded an international enquiry into the disappearance of theopposition leaders during the dying hours of the battle forN'Djamena.
Deby's government has admitted it is holding formerpresident Lol Mahamat Choua as a "prisoner of war", while athird opposition leader, Ibn Oumar Mahamat Saleh, has still notappeared.
More than 400 civilians were killed in two days of confusedstreet battles in N'Djamena before the rebels retreated towardsthe Sudanese border in eastern Chad.
Deby had announced an investigation into the rebel raid onthe capital and the disappearance of the opposition figuresduring a brief visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy toChad last week.
Chad's opposition and rebels have strongly criticizedFrench support for Deby's government. Paris has insisted it didnot provide direct military aid during the battle.
(Writing by Daniel Flynn; by Andrew Roche)
