N'DJAMENA, March 3 (Reuters) - A missing Chadian opposition leader surfaced in Cameroon on Monday, a month after he was abducted from his home during a failed rebel assault on the capital N'Djamena. Human rights groups had called on Chadian President Idriss Deby to clarify the whereabouts of parliamentarian Ngarlejy Yorongar after he disappeared on Feb. 3, one of three opposition figures to go missing as government forces reestablished control of the capital. "I can only respect Cameroonian authorities and not give interviews at present," Yorongar told Radio France International from the Cameroonian capital Yaounde. Cameroon has given Yorongar 48 hours to arrange for asylum in a European country, RFI reported. Asked where he would go, Yorongar replied: "I have started the formalities with several (countries) before taking a final decision." African civil rights group RADDHO said in a statement Yorongar was ill after being tortured in captivity, and demanded an international enquiry into the disappearance of the opposition leaders during the dying hours of the battle for N'Djamena. Deby's government has admitted it is holding former president Lol Mahamat Choua as a "prisoner of war", while a third opposition leader, Ibn Oumar Mahamat Saleh, has still not appeared. More than 400 civilians were killed in two days of confused street battles in N'Djamena before the rebels retreated towards the Sudanese border in eastern Chad. Deby had announced an investigation into the rebel raid on the capital and the disappearance of the opposition figures during a brief visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Chad last week. Chad's opposition and rebels have strongly criticised French support for Deby's government. Paris has insisted it did not provide direct military aid during the battle. (Writing by Daniel Flynn; by Andrew Roche)
Fresh tree stumps line a street in Chad's capital N'Djamena February 29, 2008. Rocket propelled grenades and cannon fire during a recent rebel attack on the capital snapped off many of ...
