The claim on Saturday came after battles which left scores of people dead and provoked the government to threaten to break off ties with neighbouring Sudan.

Idriss Deby Itno, the Chadian president, renewed his accusations that the Union of Resistance Forces (UFR) is being backed by Sudan, warning that diplomacy between the nations could be cut.

The Chadian government says at least 225 UFR fighters and 22 soldiers were killed in the clashes south of the main eastern city of Abeche on Thursday and Friday.

Adoum Younousmi, Chad’s defence minister, said on Saturday: “It is a decisive victory.”

‘Khartoum involvement’

Deby, speaking at the presidential palace on Saturday, said: “The government must re-evaluate relations between Sudan and Chad, and envisages – if the situation does not evolve positively – the rupture of these relations.

“To this end, Sudanese cultural centres must be closed and schools financed by Sudan must be taken over by the Chadian government. Teachers who are really intelligence agents ought to return home.”

Deby himself took power in a putsch launched from Sudan in 1990. Khartoum rejects the accusations of involvement with the UFR.

South of Abeche, in the town of Am-Dam, government forces showed off their booty and prisoners to journalists, who also saw dozens of bodies and burned-out vehicles.

But a UFR source claimed that their forces were still massed southeast of Abeche and are intent on taking the capital, at least 600km to the west.

Adam Mustafa Ibrahim, the governor of Abeche, told Al Jazeera: “Security forces are on alert; they are patrolling the borders and control the situation.

“We do not pay attention to rumours, but if there is solid information regarding rebel movements, we will attack them as we have before.”

The fighting looks to have ended a peace accord signed by Khartoum and Ndjamena two weeks ago – the latest in a series of deals, none of which has had any longevity.

International criticism

The UN security council on Friday condemned the UFR incursion into eastern Chad from Sudan.

All 15 ambassadors agreed to a non-binding statement that “condemns the renewed military incursions in eastern Chad of Chadian armed groups, coming from outside”.

The UN statement also stressed that “any attempt at destabilisation of Chad by force is unacceptable”.

The European Union (EU) and African Union (AU) have spoken out against the UFR offensive.

Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, called on “the armed groups coming from Sudan in the east of Chad … to renounce violence and begin negotiations with the Chad government.”

Meanwhile, Ramtane Lamara, the AU’s peace and security commissioner, condemned “all kinds of anti-constitutional change of government, and acts of destabilisation”.

Chadian opposition fighters have sought to overthrow Deby for more than three years.

The UFR is led by Tiimane Erdimi, Deby’s nephew, who once held the brief of oil affairs in the government.

However, a split occurred within Deby’s inner circle over how to deal with the conflict in Darfur in Sudan leading to the rebellion.

Deby and many of his senior military officers hail from Sudan and have relatives living in Darfur.

About 300,000 Darfuri war refugees are camped in eastern Chad along with about 187,000 Chadians who have been uprooted by fighting in Chad and Darfur.

Chad claims victory over rebels

Ban spoke to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the telephone Tuesday night amid heavy international pressure for a humanitarian cease-fire in the conflict. Rajapaksa has brushed off such calls, saying a truce would give the rebels a chance to regroup.

The government has cornered the remaining rebel fighters — along with tens of thousands of civilians — in a narrow coastal strip in the north and stands on the brink of victory after a nearly quarter-century civil war.

Speaking to reporters in New York, Ban said he asked Rajapaksa for “a humanitarian pause in the fighting” to allow aid into the conflict zone and urged the government to stop using heavy weapons in areas heavily populated by civilians.

“I repeat: Protecting civilians and respecting international humanitarian law, must be priority one. The world is watching events closely, including for violations of international law,” he said.

The government pledged last week to stop using artillery fire and air strikes, but health officials in the war zone say such attacks have continued.

Ban also said the Tamil Tigers should let the estimated 50,000 civilians trapped by the fighting out of the war zone and to stop forcibly recruiting fighters from their ranks.

“Above all, there is an urgent need for the two sides to bring the conflict to a peaceful and orderly end,” he said.

The appeal came as a British parliamentary delegation finished a two-day tour of the country and a Canadian Cabinet minister also visited. Last week the British and French foreign ministers traveled here to personally press for a humanitarian truce.

The intense fighting since the end of January has killed about 6,500 civilians, according to a U.N. document compiled last month. Hundreds of more civilians have been reported killed since then.

During the phone conversation, Rajapaksa invited Ban to visit the country and personally assess the situation, according to a statement from the president’s office. U.N. spokesman Gordon Weiss said no decision had been made on such a visit.

The rebels said in a statement Tuesday that civilians trapped in the war zone were facing starvation and accused the government of blocking food deliveries. Health officials in the area have also said the elderly and children were suffering and dying in increasing numbers because of lack of food.

Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said the government had delivered enough food and accused the rebels of grabbing the supplies for themselves.

Reporters and independent observers are barred from the war zone making the government’s claims difficult to verify.

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for minority Tamils, which have suffered decades of marginalization at the hands of governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority.

UN calls for cease-fire in Sri Lanka civil war

A third Thai soldier died in hospital following Friday’s clashes, which rattled relations between the neighbours just days before a regional summit that was supposed to focus on the global economic slowdown.

Military officials from both sides met over lunch in disputed territory near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on Sunday, while Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was set to meet Thai officials later in the capital Phnom Penh.

“We held the meeting in order to make the situation return to normal and to make sure there’s no more gunfire. We have agreed to stay on our sides of the border,” Cambodian Major General Srey Doek said after the talks.

His Thai counterpart, Major General Kanok Netrak Thavesanak, said that in future both sides would “communicate to solve problems. Sometimes there are misunderstandings.”

Troops could be seen chatting and some even stowed away their weapons but they said they remained ready to fight after their clash, the biggest burst of violence over the territory since four people died there in October.

However journalists were barred from entering the so-called Eagle Area, which has seen the most violence, because the Cambodian military said it remained too tense.

Decades of tensions over ownership of the site started to boil over after Cambodia successfully applied for United Nations world heritage status for the ruins in July.

Kanok, the Thai officer, said an official from his country would meet later with Hun Sen.

“A Thai official is going to meet with the Cambodian prime minister today and they will talk about the clashes that happened two days earlier,” Cambodian cabinet spokesman Phay Siphan told AFP.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva meanwhile said that the issue would come up when he meets his Cambodian counterpart at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its regional partners in Thailand next week.

“This will be raised in next week’s meeting to find a solution to the problem,” Abhisit said in his weekly television broadcast, adding that the two countries would “resume the talking process as soon as possible.”

Pre-arranged talks on the border situation, the latest in a series that have been held over the past six months, are also set to go ahead as planned on Monday and Tuesday in Phnom Penh.

The Thai and Cambodian leaders both sought to play down the latest crisis on Saturday, saying that it was the result of a misunderstanding and that the two countries were not at war.

“It’s like next-door neighbours — when their chickens fight, the owners get into a dispute too,” Hun Sen said.

But while tensions had noticeably eased at the border on Sunday, Cambodian soldiers said they would fight to the death to protect the ancient temple perched on a forested cliff overlooking green swathes of countryside.

“We are not afraid of Thai soldiers. Everything happened because Thai soldiers want to take our temple and land,” said Cambodian soldier Chum Chuon.

Friday’s violence damaged a government office and destroyed a local market.

Hundreds of Cambodians who lost their homes in the fighting were evacuated to a school 20 kilometres (12 miles) away and were being provided new plots of land further from disputed territory.

In 1962 an international court awarded the ruins to Cambodia, but the most accessible entrance is in Thailand and the two countries still dispute ownership of the surrounding land.

The border in the area is poorly defined, partly because it is heavily mined after decades of conflict in Cambodia.

AFP: Cambodia, Thailand in talks after border clashes

The clash broke out Wednesday in the Bakool region, after government troops attacked a base belonging to the al-Shabab militant group in the Rabdhure district.

Heavy gunfire was exchanged and at least one vehicle was burned. Another vehicle was reported to have been captured by the militants.

Al-Shabab controls much of southern and central Somalia after a two-year insurgency, and has moved to impose its own strict form of Islamic law in areas under its control.

Last week, Somalia’s cabinet voted to make Sharia the basis of Somalia’s legal system, in an effort to appease the insurgents.

At Least 14 Killed in Somalia Clash

A spokesmen for the mutinous troops, Col. Noel Rakotonandrasana, Friday said his group had deployed the tanks at a barracks in Antananarivo.

But local reporter Mialy Randriamampianina said that no tanks were visible in the capital.

“It is said that there are some tanks here in the town of Antananarivo right now,” he noted. “We haven’t really seen it in the streets. We don’t know exactly where they are but this morning the army said those tanks are in the town in order to protect the civilian population.”

She said the report caused concern among officials in the government of President Marc Ravalomanana. He went on national television Thursday night to appeal for the armed forces to remain neutral in his standoff with former Mayor Andry Rajoelina.

The defense minister Vice-Admiral Mamy Ranaivoniarivo resigned earlier this week but state radio Thursday said he had resumed his post.

Weeks of demonstrations and confrontations that have killed more than 100 people have polarized the nation and caused divisions with the military.

The mutineers last week said they would no longer observe orders to kill their own people and suggested it was time for the president to step down.

The confrontation began in January after the government closed a radio station owned by Rajoelina. This followed a rally during which the former mayor accused the president of corruption and authoritarianism.

Rajeolina subsequently announced his cabinet and said he was taking over the government. The president responded by dismissing him as mayor and sent troops to surround his residence.

Church leaders, the United Nations and the African Union have tried to mediate. But the negotiations stalled after Rajoelina walked out accusing the president of going back on promises made.

The unrest has hurt Madagascar’s tourism industry and foreign investment. The US embassy has urged its citizens to consider leaving while commercial airlines are operating normally.

Mutinous Troops in Madagascar Say They Control Army Tanks

An air strike in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza on Thursday killed three militants and wounded two others, medics said.

An army spokesman said the raid targeted a group who had fired an anti-tank shell at an army unit on the Israeli side of the border.

Late Wednesday, an Israeli air raid killed a senior Islamic Jihad military commander as he drove through the Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City.

Israel launched four strikes on the Gaza Strip Thursday evening in response to rockets and mortar shells being fired, a military spokesman said.

"Our aircraft struck four tunnels dug under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, close to Rafah," he told AFP.

"In all eight rockets and two mortar shells have been fired at Israel on Thursday."

In a statement published in Gaza, the Al-Quds Brigade, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Thursday claimed responsibility for 10 rocket attacks on Israel.

No casualties were reported from the rockets in Israel, according to the Israeli army and medical services.

It was the latest blow to the tenuous ceasefire Hamas and Israel declared on January 18 to end Israel’s 22-day devastating war on the tiny coastal strip. Egypt has been brokering talks to turn the ceasefires into a durable truce but has so far failed to clinch any agreement.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly warned of tough action to try to stamp out the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, which Israel withdrew from in 2005 after 38 years of occupation.

The latest violence erupted just hours after Clinton left Israel on Wednesday after wrapping up her first trip to the Middle East since being appointed by US President Barack Obama.

"The United States aims to foster conditions in which a Palestinian state can be fully realised," she said after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank. "Time is of the essence."

She called for Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, which was devastated by the war that Israel launched on December 27 in response to rocket fire and that ended up killing more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

Israel sealed the impoverished territory to all but humanitarian goods in June 2007 when Hamas, an Islamist group pledged to Israel’s destruction, seized power in the enclave booting out forces loyal to moderate Abbas.

"We have obviously expressed concerns about the border crossings. We want humanitarian aid to get into Gaza in sufficient amounts to alleviate the suffering of the people in Gaza," Clinton said.

Gaza is one of the world’s most densely-populated places. More than half of the 1.4 million population is under 18 and the vast majority of residents depend on foreign aid.

Clinton slammed Israel’s plans to raze houses in east Jerusalem that were built without building permits, notoriously difficult to obtain for the city’s Palestinian residents.

"Clearly this kind of activity is unhelpful and not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the roadmap," Clinton said, referring to a blueprint for peace talks adopted by the international community in 2003.

Israeli raids kill Gaza militants after Clinton visit

The corpses of at least 66 people were unearthed at the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters on Friday, two days after a revolt by hundreds of border guards protesting over pay and conditions.

Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque in Dhaka said: “The senior officers killed are just the first out of the mass graves.
“There are flies all over the place, you can smell gun powder. There is an eerie feeling … the smell, the tension and the drama are palpable.”

‘Cold-blooded murder’

Syed M Kamruzzaman, an army officer who managed to escape the guards holding him, told the AFP news agency: “They hurled abuse at us and gunned down whoever they wanted. I was shot at seven times and was lucky to get out alive.

“It was cold-blooded murder.”

More than 230 guards are reported to have been arrested in Dhaka and 68 more near the town of Savar after nearly 2,000 guards opened fire on their officers and seized control of the BDR base.

Haque said: “Government officers often go on strike about pay conditions here, but to kill your superior is quite unusual. The government is asking who is behind this, and is it solely about pay?

“Sheikh Hasina Wajed, the prime minister, had [originally] said the mutineers would be forgiven, but that now looks very unlikely – the attacks have been so brutal.”

Imtiaz Ahmed, a political analyst from Dhaka university, told Al Jazeera: “Initially there was some support for the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), especially on the issue of grievances, but as the killings came to light and dead bodies are being found, there seems to be almost a turnaround.

“Support for the BDR has vanished absolutely. People are shocked at what they’re seeing.”

‘No right to kill’

Checkpoints have been set up across the country and ferries were being searched for fleeing mutineers.

The guards surrendered on Thursday after Sheikh Hasina sent tanks and troops into the streets of Dhaka and threatened to put down the mutiny by force.

Hasina had offered the mutineers an amnesty and agreed to look into their demands, but later said the offer would not apply to those who carried out any killings, adding: “No one has the right to kill anyone.”

Manzoor Hasan, the director of BRAC University’s Institute of Governance Studies in Dhaka, said the mutiny had taken the country and Hasina by surprise.

“It was a bit of a baptism by fire for her. It was a critical test, but I think in the end she tackled it competently,” he said.

The violence is the first major crisis facing the prime minister since she was elected in late December, when Bangladesh returned to democracy after nearly two years of army-backed emergency rule.

Police chiefs across Bandladesh said BDR members had revolted in 15 border districts.

Guards within the BDR have opposed being led by army officers, saying they want commanders to be drawn from their own ranks.

The BDR’s main task is to guard the country’s borders, but it often supports the army and police.

Bodies unearthed after Dhaka mutiny

The news, which is unconfirmed, comes hours after PM Sheikh Hasina offered the troops a general amnesty.

At least five people died and a number were wounded in the mutiny, which was said to be over pay, conditions, career advancement and alleged discrimination.

The rebels battled troops sent to quell the mutiny for several hours.

A number of passersby were injured when they were caught in the crossfire.

Sheikh Hasina and senior ministers met 14 of the renegade Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) troops at her office late on Wednesday after they were escorted there from their headquarters in the capital, Dhaka.

The prime minister offered the general amnesty and urged the paramilitaries to set free officers they had taken hostage.

She said she would look into their grievances over pay and conditions.

‘Exploiting us’

The mutineers seized the military barracks in the Pilkhana area of Dhaka on Wednesday morning, reportedly taking more than 100 people hostage.

Thousands of police and troops were deployed outside the compound to try to put down the mutiny.

Exactly how many people were killed and injured in the uprising remains unclear. The fate of all the hostages has also not been confirmed.

The bodies of two senior officers seized by the renegade guards were discovered dumped in a drain outside the camp earlier on Wednesday.

It is hard to imagine how a dispute over pay could have escalated so rapidly and so violently, says the BBC’s Mark Dummett in Dhaka.

One of the mutineers told the BBC that the guards had had to take up arms to resolve problems with their officers.

“Our families might suffer because of what we have done, but they have been exploiting us for more than 200 years,” the man said.

Bangladesh mutineers ‘surrender

The Tigers have been driven back into just 73 square kilometres (28 square miles) of jungle, military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said, having controlled large swathes of the north and the east of the island less than two years ago.

Officials say the rebels are increasingly desperate and may launch more attacks such as the air strike on the capital Colombo on Friday, when two light aircraft were used in suicide missions that killed two people.

The UN’s top humanitarian relief official, John Holmes, appealed to the government and the rebels to spare non-combatants as the warring factions appeared set for a final showdown.

Holmes said civilians were dying every day inside the war zone, where government troops are fighting to crush the Tigers’ decades-long armed campaign for an independent Tamil homeland.

“I urge both sides to do everything they can for a peaceful and orderly end to avoid a final bloody battle,” he said on Saturday at the end of his three-day visit to Sri Lanka.

The Tamil Tigers dominated about 18,000 square kilometres (7,000 square miles) of territory until the middle of 2007, when the government launched its military offensive.

The defence ministry on Sunday said the number of people killed in a guerrilla attack on a Sinhalese village in the east of the island on Saturday had risen to 15.

It was the worst attack against a village in the multi-ethnic region in recent years, officials said, adding that troop reinforcements had been rushed to the area.

Sri Lanka says 65 Tiger rebels killed

Ahmed has promised to build on his record of bringing security when his Islamist forces ruled much of the country, which has been racked by war for 18 years.

African Union peacekeepers said the attack was intended to provoke return fire.

“We just ignored them,” Major Barigye Ba-Hoku, spokesman for the AU’s small AMISOM mission in the city, told Reuters.

“They are provocative and expect us to respond but we are not ready to. They want an excuse to accuse AMISOM of attacking civilians. We never do that.”

A government security officer said several mortars were fired at the hilltop Villa Somalia palace, but no one was hurt.

Abdullahi Qadar, an official working for the new president, said Ahmed had ordered government forces and the AU peacekeepers not to return fire to avoid civilian casualties.

Ahmed, a moderate, headed a sharia courts group that brought some stability to Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia in 2006, before Washington’s main regional ally Ethiopia invaded to oust them. Ethiopia’s military withdrew last month, clearing the way for Ahmed’s election in Djibouti a week ago.

Ahmed was then feted at a February 1-4 African Union summit hosted this week by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi — whose army drove his Islamists from power just two years ago.

He said he and Meles had agreed to work together for a better Horn of Africa and for an end to conflict in the region.

The hardline al Shabaab group, which is on Washington’s list of foreign terrorist groups, said before the vote it would start a new campaign of hit-and-run attacks on the government — whoever came to power.

Rebels target new Somali president with mortars | International | Reuters