Chad President Idriss Deby Itno declared a "stunning victory" on Wednesday over rebel forces and said he was back in control, as Red Cross officials put the toll from weekend clashes at more than 160 dead.

"We have total control not only of the capital but of the country," said Deby at his first press conference since hundreds of insurgents poured into Ndjamena in a bid to overthrow his regime.

Clad in military uniform, he said there were "rebels who have fled, there are some still in Ndjamena disguised as civilians, there are some trying to get back to the border" with Sudan.

"We're at their heels and we shall catch them before they get back to Sudan," said the bespectacled 56-year-old leader, in power since 1990, adding that Chad had been "attacked from abroad".

Deby spoke after more than half an hour of talks with French Defence Minister Herve Morin, who arrived in battle-scarred Ndjamena on an unannounced visit in a high-profile show of French support.

"France did not fail in its commitments," Deby said. "France has strongly upheld its commitment regarding the aggression."

He added: "We owe the stunning victory to valiant Chadian national forces."

EU peacekeeping force

The fighting delayed a long-awaited European Union peacekeeping force that was set to deploy in Chad to protect refugees from war-torn Darfur and others who have been displaced.

Morin said arrangements were in hand to send EU troops within 45 days despite the weekend battles in the capital.

Activity returned to some parts of the capital on Wednesday but most businesses were shuttered, as the Chadian Red Cross said it had picked up 80 dead bodies and even more were left to collect.

"The bodies were buried in two graves in the Ndjamena cemetery," Thomas Merkelbach, head of a Red Cross delegation in Ndjamena, told AFP, adding that a further 1000 people were thought to have been injured during the unrest.

The rebels — who had crossed the width of Chad last week from bases inside Sudan — agreed on Tuesday under strong diplomatic pressure to a conditional ceasefire.

It came after the UN Security Council condemned their weekend assault and effectively gave France a green light to intervene militarily.

France, which ruled Chad until 1960, and which has boosted its military presence in the central African country to 1450 troops plus Mirage fighter jets, let it be known that it was ready to intervene to support Deby.

But as Morin touched down in Ndjamena, rebel spokesperson Abderaman Koulamallah said the insurgents had pulled back "to better camouflage themselves" about 70 kilometres from the capital.

"We warn France against all direct intervention otherwise things could very badly degenerate for it," he told AFP by satellite telephone. "It would risk losing face in Chad and endanger the lives of all its nationals in Africa."

Chad blames Sudan

At stake in Chad is control of a central African country with promising oil reserves but a porous border with Sudan's remote and troubled Darfur region.

Sudan denies Chad's assertion that it is supporting the insurgency — an allegation that Chadian Prime Minister Delwa Kassire Coumakoye extended on Wednesday to Libya, another neighbouring state.

"It is Kadhafi who is contributing to arming these people," he said, referring to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi. "They are armed by Sudan and supported by Libya."

Deby however later downplayed any differences with Libya. "Relations between Chad and Libya are excellent," he said.

In Geneva, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that while some Chadians were still fleeing to neighbouring Cameroon, others were heading home.

The UNHCR has estimated that 20 000 Chadians have taken refuge in the Cameroonian border town of Kousseri. The Red Cross put the number of refugees at almost 30 000, some in nearby Garoua.

From the Vatican on Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI appealed to the warring sides in Chad — where fewer than 10 percent of the population are Roman Catholics — to lay down weapons and seek "dialogue and reconciliation."

AFP

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