The mobile rebel columns of armed pickups have raced through towns and struck at army posts in the eastern borderlands. But they have not attempted to repeat the headlong charge westwards to the capital N'Djamena that they made in February.
Former colonial ruler France, which in February clearly threw its political and military weight behind Deby when he resisted the rebel assault on N'Djamena, has taken a more ambiguous position towards the latest rebel moves. here