By Alistair Thomson N'DJAMENA, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Chad's President Idriss Deby called on the European Union on Thursday to deploy a peacekeeping force urgently to the east after rebels who raided his capital pulled back halfway towards the Sudan border. Hundreds of refugees who fled to Cameroon after the fighting in the capital N'Djamena that killed at least 100 civilians were returning back across the river border on Thursday. Chadian officials said they routed the rebel attackers. They said the remnants of the rebel column had withdrawn 600 km (375 miles) east to the rugged region around the town of Mongo. One rebel spokesman, Ali Ordjo Hemchi, said the rebels had taken Mongo, but were being bombarded by French warplanes and helicopters, but there was no independent confirmation of this. France, which has planes and troops in the central African oil producer, has denied any direct role in the combat so far. 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 to the east. The European Union had started deployment of its force but suspended it almost immediately due to the weekend 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. Deby, who accuses Sudan of backing the rebel offensive, said the international community had given Khartoum "the green light to destabilise Chad" by not criticising it directly. The U.N. Security Council issued a non-binding statement on Monday urging member states to support Deby, but it fell short of France's original motion mentioning Sudan. Khartoum, which has strongly denied 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. REBELS ACCUSE "NEO-COLONIALIST" FRANCE Former colonial power France initially said it was "neutral" as fighting raged at the weekend, but has since thrown its full weight behind Deby. With warplanes and more than 1,000 troops stationed in Chad, France will make up the bulk of the EU force. France's military denies rebel claims that it fought to protect Deby, but 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. 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. "The national armed opposition is more than ever ready and determined to oppose all aggression by the neo-colonialist French forces and others," the alliance of three anti-Deby rebel groups said in a joint statement. Aid workers said at least 100 corpses lay in N'Djamena's three main hospitals and as many as 700 more people were being treated for bullet wounds and injuries from mortar fire. Firemen and ambulance workers were still picking up bodies on Thursday, as people started to clear up debris from damaged buildings. Army pick-ups packed with turbanned soldiers sped around streets littered with burned out vehicles. 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.
A displaced boy is seen at a showground in Nairobi February 7, 2008. The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday demanded an end to what it described as "ethnically motivated attacks" in ...
Refugees & displacement
