Chad calls for EU deployment as rebels regroup

President Idriss Deby called on the European Union on Thursday to deploy a peacekeeping force urgently to eastern Chad, as his government sought to tighten security after a weekend rebel assault on the capital.

Prime Minister Nouradine Delwa Kassire Coumakoye announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew across the capital N'Djamena and swathes of east and central Chad after the remnants of the rebel column which attacked the city withdrew halfway to the Sudan border.

A spokesman for the rebels, Ali Ordjo Hemchi, said they had taken the town of Mongo, 600 km (375 miles) east of N'Djamena, and were being bombed by French warplanes and helicopters.

There was no independent confirmation of this. Former colonial power France, which has over 1,000 troops stationed in the central African oil producer, has denied rebel allegations it is supporting Deby militarily.

As calm returned to the dusty riverside capital, hundreds of refugees, who fled to Cameroon after the weekend clashes that killed at least 160 civilians, returned over the river border.

Emergency workers in N'Djamena scooped up bodies with an earthmover on Thursday, as people cleared debris from damaged buildings. Army pick-ups packed with turbaned soldiers sped around streets littered with burned out vehicles.

The renewed conflict has delayed the deployment of a 3,700-strong EU peacekeeping force to eastern Chad to protect half a million Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadians who have fled violence spilling over from Sudan's Darfur region.

Relief officials said the unrest threatened to provoke a humanitarian crisis by blocking aid flights. The European Union had started deployment of its force last week but suspended it almost immediately due to the rebel attack.

"We want to launch a solemn appeal to the European Union, and France ... to make sure that this force is put in place as quickly as possible to lighten the load we are carrying," Deby said in an interview broadcast on France's Europe 1 radio.

A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the deployment would start again once the situation was clearer.

"It's a question of security, as soon as the operation commander and the force commander decide the situation is clear, the deployment will resume," Solana's spokeswoman, Cristina Gallach, said.



BLAME GAME

Deby, who accuses Sudan of backing the rebels, said the international community had given Khartoum "the green light to destabilise Chad" by not condemning its role. The U.N. Security Council issued a non-binding statement on Monday urging members to support Deby, but spurned France's request to mention Sudan.

Khartoum, which denies backing the rebels, said on Thursday it had joined Libyan-led mediation efforts and had been behind the insurgents' decision to withdraw from N'Djamena.

"Sudan called for evacuation of the opposition from N'Djamena and the opposition agreed," the powerful head of the intelligence forces Salah Gosh told state Sudan Vision daily.

The rebels, who fought their way into N'Djamena on Saturday with a column of 300 pick-ups mounted with cannon and machine guns, have long accused Paris of propping up Deby's 18-year-old government, which they call corrupt and dictatorial.

France initially said it was "neutral" as fighting raged at the weekend, but has since thrown its full weight behind Deby. President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday his country would intervene if needed against the insurgents.

In an apparent gesture of gratitude, Deby, a former French-trained helicopter pilot, said he could pardon six members of French charity Zoe's Ark sentenced to eight years in prison by Chad for abducting children, if France requested it.

A spokesman for Sarkozy said on Thursday France would pass on any request for a pardon from members of Zoe's Ark, who are serving their jail terms in France.

Aid workers said at least 160 corpses lay in N'Djamena's three main hospitals and as many as 850 more people were being treated for bullet wounds and injuries from mortar fire.

Residents said security forces rounded up leading members of Chad's political opposition on Sunday night, as the fighting in the capital subsided. Human rights groups said on Wednesday soldiers were also trying to arrest civil rights campaigners.