CHADIAN EMBASSY IN KHARTOUM REPORTS FRESH TROOPS AND

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000194 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, S/E WILLIAMSON AND AF/SPG ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU NSC FOR PITTMAN AND HUDSON SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV KPKO AU UN SU SUBJECT: CHADIAN EMBASSY IN KHARTOUM REPORTS FRESH TROOPS AND WEAPONS ENTERING FROM DARFUR REF: KHARTOUM 189 ¶1. (SBU) On February 7, Embassy Khartoum received a letter from the Chadian Embassy claiming that the Sudanese government had dispatched forty-eight armed vehicles carrying Chadian rebels and members of the Sudanese Armed Forces across the border into Chad. The convoy is said to have left at five in the morning February 6. ¶2. (SBU) Translation of the letter follows. Begin text: Further to our press release of January 16, citing that the rebels are well-trained and prepared by the Government of Sudan to take subversive action against Chad and to derail the deployment of the hybrid forces in Darfur and the European forces in Chad and the CAR. We said in this release that an attack against Chad is imminent, and just six hours after the release Chad was attacked by the enemy, made up of rebels and militias funded and trained by Sudan. We inform again the national and international opinion that Sudan continues to provide logistical support to Chadian rebels, and recently raised a strong arm against Adre. On February 2, 2008 the Sudanese government sent another convoy of some forty armed Toyotas and five trucks carrying ammunitions and shells from the Sudanese town of El Geneina into Chad, headed by Tahir Guinassou, Abakar Tollimi and other Sudanese militia to provide relief to rebels who had left N'Djamena headed toward Sudan. The same day, a convoy of rebels and Sudanese militia supported by Sudanese air power attacked the village of Adre, which the Chadian Army protested. We received information on the morning of February 4 that the Sudanese government had provided Chadian rebels and janjaweed with 200 new Toyotas which are currently being armed so that rebels can attack other villages in Chad, particularly the village of Adre. On Feburary 6, 2008 the Sudanese government sent another convoy of forty-eight armed Toyotas carrying Chadian rebels and Sudanese Armed Forces, which crossed the border at five in the morning. Today, Sudan in a change of strategy is sending weapons, ammunition and fuel to the border (Hadjar-Hadid, Tourab-Ahamar) while the rebels and militias continue to seek the destabilization of Chad. The Sudanese government has not ceased in its aggressive actions against Chad, using multiple tactics to create rebel militias from many factions to start a civil war in Chad meant to cover its own problems in Darfur. That is the reality of the hour. End text. FERNANDEZ