‘Heavy gunfire’ in African capital after Chinese FM visit

The presidency building in Chad came under attack by militants on Wednesday

Tanks have been deployed on Wednesday night to the streets of Chad's capital N’Djamena and heavy gunfire can be heard in the heart of the city, as the presidential palace has reportedly came under attack by unidentified militants, sources have told RT.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited N’Djamena earlier on Wednesday to discuss “advancing bilateral cooperation” with Chadian President Mahamat Deby.

The French news agency AFP first reported “heavy gunfire” on Wednesday evening. AFP cited a Chadian security source, who said that “armed men had attacked the presidential palace.”

All roads to the building have been closed to traffic and the streets are blocked by armored vehicles.

“Nothing serious, don’t panic, the situation is under control,” Chadian government spokesman Aziz Mahamat Saleh said in a Facebook post on Wednesday evening, without giving further details.

Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah later told AFP that 18 attackers have been killed and six were injured. “And we suffered one death and three [were] injured,” he said, adding that “the destabilization attempt was put down.”

Read more

The former French colony terminated its security pact with Paris in November, following the lead of nearby Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. France had around 1,000 troops in the Sahel nation. The first 30 or so departed in late December, with the rest expected to follow “in the coming weeks.”

On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron told a meeting of ambassadors that the former colonies in Africa forgot to thank Paris for its help against terrorists and separatists over the past decade.

“None of them would have a sovereign state if the French army had not deployed in this region,” the French president claimed. “I think that they forgot to thank us, but that’s ok, it will come in time.”

France was one of the key backers of the 2011 NATO intervention in Libya to oust the government of Muammar Gaddafi. Libya has been torn by sectarian warfare among rival warlords ever since, with much of its arsenal finding its way to a variety of militant groups across the Sahel, including some that allied with Al-Qaeda. France has deployed expeditionary forces in its former colonies to fight the terrorists, but the local governments eventually accused Paris of failing at the job and sought security partnerships with Russia and China instead.