YAOUNDE, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The Chadian regime must "understand that war is not the solution" to resolve the crisis facing the country, a rebel spokesman has said, blaming the government side for the fight that erupted in the east, according to information reaching here.

    "N'Djamena must understand that war is not the solution. The government must agree to sit at a negotiating table in order to resolve the crisis with the guarantees of France and the chairman of the African Union (AU) commission," Abderaman Koulamallah, one of the rebel spokesmen, said in a statement on Thursday.

    On Thursday, there were reports of renewed fighting in eastern Chad near the border with Sudan, with government forces employing helicopters to attack rebel positions ahead of large-scale ground offensive, according to Western military sources.

    "All actors (politicians and rebels) must sit down together at a conference," said Koulamallah.

    The conference on "Peace for a Final Settlement," said the rebel leader, could be "modeled along the lines of which brought together all the warring sides in the Cote d'Ivoire crisis in Marcoussis, outside Paris, in January 2003.

    The rebel spokesman was referring to the aborted peace conference that had been called by former French President Jacques Chirac in an attempt to broker an agreement between the Cote d'Ivoire protagonists in the wake of botched coup against President Laurent Gbagbo in September 2002.

    In the latest development, a Chadian army attack helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing near the airport in Abeche, eastern Chad, after conducting an attack against positions held by the Chadian National Alliance.

    "The helicopter made a hard and forced landing 500 meter northwest of the camp of the European peacekeeping force," said a Western military source, adding that no victims had been reported in the incident.

    Earlier on, three Chadian army helicopters, including two MI-35and a MI-17, had taken off from Abeche, the largest city in the east of Chad, heading for the direction of known rebel positions in the area of Moudeina and Ade near the Sudanese border, according to the same source.

    "We are asking France to be a powerful mediator who would help to secure a consensus among all parties in Chad (rebels and political parties) and lead to peace in the country," said Koulamallah, another rebel spokesman, adding that the rebels were keen "to avoid another raid on N'Djamena."

    According to European military sources, the Chadian army has "improved much" and reinforced its positions near the eastern border since the end of the February offensive and the rebels would find it difficult to launch another march on the capital.