Chad President under siege as fighting rages

Hundreds of civilians were injured in a third day of fighting for control of the capital of Chad yesterday as France tried frantically to broker a settlement in its former African colony.

Militiamen loyal to President Idriss Deby, besieged in his presidential palace in N'Djamena on Saturday, were said to have retaken part of the capital in confused street fighting yesterday. Medecins sans Frontieres said many hundreds of civilians had been wounded in the crossfire.

Sudan has been accused by the Chad government of arming a column of rebels who drove unopposed 400 miles across the Sahel desert to the capital in 300 "technicals", or armed pick-up trucks, on Thursday. The French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, said yesterday that the attack was perhaps intended to torpedo EU plans to deploy a force to protect Darfuri refugees on the Chad-Sudan border.

Rebel leaders, including President Deby's nephew Timane Erdimi, insist that their only motive is to topple a "corrupt and authoritarian" regime.

French warplanes stationed in Chad helped to defeat an attempt by a coalition of three rebel groups to depose President Deby two years ago. France, which has 1,450 troops in Chad as well as aircraft, has refused to intervene.

President Sarkozy spoke to President Deby twice on Saturday (his wedding day). He is reported to have offered to fly the Chadian leader out of the country, but he refused. He also discussed the fighting in Chad with Colonel Gaddafi of Libya, one of the official peacemakers appointed by the African Union.

M. Kouchner pleaded yesterday for a "truce, negotiations and some kind of arrangement" to end the conflict. Diplomatic sources said that a truce might be possible but that President Deby's forces, backed by helicopters and tanks, seemed to be recovering ground.

The government said an assault by Sudanese forces and Chadian rebels on Adre in eastern Chad, which it called a "declaration of war", had been repulsed. But the rebels insisted last night that their forces had captured the town. Reports from N'Djamena said the rebels in pick-up trucks armed with machineguns and cannons had attempted to besiege the palace in the west of the capital on Saturday. They had been forced back yesterday by militia loyal to the President, supported by tanks.

Foreign residents said fighting resumed before dawn, after a ceasefire overnight. "The city is cut into two - the rebels occupy the west, and the government forces the east," said the Reuters reporter, Moumine Ngarmbassa, in N'Djamena. "People are frightened that this fighting will go on and on."

French military planes evacuated more than 500 French and other foreign nationals to Gabon on Saturday. Another 400 were awaiting evacuation.

Deployment of the 3,700 soldiers of Eufor, the European Union peacekeeping force for the Sudan-Chad, border began with a handful of troops last week. The French Defence Minister, Herve Morin, said yesterday that the arrival of the remaining troops would be postponed until Wednesday.

President Deby has accused Sudan of arming and inspiring the rebel attack to prevent the deployment of Eufor. Sudan denies any involvement. Timane Erdimi, one of several senior government figures to defect to the rebels, said: "Sudan welcomed us on its soil and looked after our sick. But we took our arms from the Chadian army."

http://www.independent.co.uk