CHAD REBEL GROUP ISSUES PRESS RELEASE CONCERNING SEIZED

UNCLAS NDJAMENA 000822 SIPDIS SIPDIS PARIS AND LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS; AF/C FOR DAS SWAN, RABAT FOR LEGATT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PREL CASC CD LY SUBJECT: CHAD REBEL GROUP ISSUES PRESS RELEASE CONCERNING SEIZED AMCIT REF: NDJAMENA 810 ¶1. The Paris-based Chad opposition web site "Al-Wihda" (alwihdainfo.com) has carried a number of postings concerning American Cash Steven Godbold, seized by the MDJT on October 12 in Zoumri, Chad, including one by the group which claims to have seized him. We cannot attest to the authenticity of any of these statements. ¶2. In an October 18 statement posted on Al-Wihda the MDJT issued the following press release (Embassy translation from the original French): Begin text: MDJT would like to inform national and international readership and the neighboring countries of Chad that it has detained an American citizen by the name of Cash Steven Jodold (sic) since October 10, ¶2007. Mr. Jodold, born in 1959 in Florida has fraudulently entered the territories under the control of MDJT. We suspect this individual to be sent by the regime of Ndjamena in order to create a division inside the Movement. The regime does not hesitate to use any means in order to divide the Chadian people. Thanks to our vigilance we have been able to arrest this mercenary at the service of the Chadian regime. We ask all foreigners not to venture into the regions under the control of MDJT. Furthermore, the MDJT high command has warned the MPS [ruling party] regime against any attempt to take back its agent by force. We are willing to release this individual to his country of origin. We assure the detainee's family that he is in good health and well treated. Issued in Zoumri on 10-13-2007 Assistant Secretary General of MDJT Hissein Yaya Barka Tel: 008821650207934 End text. ¶3. An October 18 posting by Ousmane Hissein, based in Paris and described as the "Political Adviser and Spokesman for the MDJT" condemned the seizure as a cowardly and terrorist act. He said that it had been carried out by former MDJT President Choua Dazi at the behest of President Quaddafi. The motive for the seizure, according to Hissein, was that Quaddafi viewed the presence of Americans in Tibesti as "espionage in his back yard" and a hindrance to his expansionist ambitions in Chad. An October 20 posting by another group, the Council for the Reform and Promotion of the MDJT (French acronym CIP/MDJT) by spokesman Severin Dingaoro (also based in Paris),strongly condemned the seizure. ¶4. Tripoli minimize considered. Tamlyn