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Chadian capital rocked by rebel and government fighting

Chad government forces fought rebels in the capital N'Djamena yesterday, but President Idriss Deby said the situation in the city was under control.

Residents and diplomats said a battle appeared to be raging in the northeast of the city, where the national parliament and a Libyan-run hotel complex are located.

"They [the rebels] are in the city," a reporter said. "It can be heard from within the city, artillery and machinegun fire."

The rebels are bent on over-throwing Deby and taking control of the landlocked central African oil producer, as well as disrupting a presidential election scheduled for May 3, but the president said the poll would go ahead.

"The situation in N'Djamena is under the control of the defense and security forces," he told French radio RFI.

Both the UN and the US embassy were planning to evacuate non-essential staff, diplomats said.

One resident reported seeing a column of smoke. Most people stayed indoors and there was little traffic.

"I'm sitting here listening to the boom-boom," said one foreign resident, who asked not to be named.

Deby reiterated his claim that the rebels, known as the United Force for Change, were mercenaries hired by Sudan to overthrow him -- a charge the Sudanese have denied.

"In the hours to come, we will gather all of the evidence that the Sudanese government is behind the rebels," Deby said.

He also said that he would appear at a rally later yesterday.

The fighting began before dawn, with residents in eastern neighborhoods waking to heavy gunfire. The initial fighting appeared to be coming from a defensive position constructed on Wednesday on the road leading into N'djamena from the east.

Later, Chadian attack helicopters fired rockets at rebel positions around the capital and tank fire and mortar rounds echoed through the city as government troops attempted to hold off the rebels. Columns of thick black smoke could be seen rising from the center of the city.

French fighter jets based in N'djamena could also be heard, but it was unclear if they were overhead or just revving their engines at the airfield. The sounds of fighting could be heard coming from the north, south and southeast of the city, which has a river as its western border.

France sent 150 troops on Wednesday to bolster its contingent of about 1,200 already in Chad, a former French colony, to protect about 1,500 French citizens there, the French Defense Ministry said in a statement in Paris.

The French government has said in the past it will not directly intervene in internal politics, but would provide logistical support to the government.

The French Defense Ministry said yesterday that fighter jets carried out reconnaissance and intelligence missions the previous day to evaluate the threat, but could not immediately say whether they did the same yesterday. Such flights are part of France's overall mission to protect its citizens.

On Wednesday, Chadian troops spilled into the streets and began constructing defenses all around N'djamena after three days of attacks in the countryside by rebels and unconfirmed reports that a rebel column had moved to within 100km of N'djamena by late Wednesday.
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