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PARIS (AP) - The European Union said Friday it had postponed the deployment of a peacekeeping force to protect Darfur refugees because of an upsurge of rebel activity in neighboring Chad.
The rebels, numbering 1,500 to 2,000 with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, moved toward the Chadian capital in as many as 250 pickup trucks, French Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard said Thursday.
Government troops blocked them at the capital's eastern and northern entrances Thursday night, France-Info radio reported. Fighting broke out Friday morning in Massaguet, some 30 miles northeast of the capital, it said.
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