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A battle that broke out the morning of April 13 between United Front for Democratic Change (UFDC) rebels and Chadian troops in the capital, N'Djamena, has taken the struggle to depose President Idriss Deby to his doorstep, weakening his already shaky hold on power. The clash is the culmination, but certainly not the conclusion, of a lightning-fast offensive that has seen the rebels advance more than 186 miles in a matter of days to the outskirts of N'Djamena, despite resistance from the army supported by Mirage fighter planes supplied by France.
The UFDC has vowed to overthrow Deby before national elections, scheduled for early May. The political opposition, citing the impossibility of a free and fair electoral process under the status quo, has already announced a boycott of the elections, thereby seriously undermining any semblance of democratic process or legitimacy for the current government.
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