Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno declared a nationwide state of emergency on Thursday, following a rebel onslaught on the capital earlier this month, according to a presidential decree.

"The state of emergency will be put into place on 15 February from midnight on all the territory of the Republic of Chad," the decree said.

A nighttime curfew from midnight to 6am, already in place in the capital Ndjamena since the rebels' offensive on 2 to 3 February was also widened to include the whole of the central African country.

The decree also authorised "house searches and controls on the private and public press."

"Regional governors should mobilise all their human and material resources with the aim of ensuring public order," it said.

Despite briefly taking control of large parts of Ndjamena and surrounding the presidential palace, government troops — helped by logistical and intelligence support by the French military — repulsed the rebels who have since moved to the southeast.

AFP

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