President Idriss Deby called on the European Union today to deploy a peacekeeping force urgently to eastern Chad, as his government sought to tighten security after a weekend rebel assault on the capital.
Prime Minister Nouradine Delwa Kassire Coumakoye announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew across the capital N'Djamena and swathes of east and central Chad after the remnants of the rebel column which attacked the city withdrew halfway to the Sudan border.
A spokesman for the rebels, Ali Ordjo Hemchi, said they had taken the town of Mongo, 600 km east of N'Djamena, and were being bombed by French warplanes and helicopters.
There was no independent confirmation of this. Former colonial power France, which has over 1,000 troops stationed in the central African oil producer, has denied rebel allegations it is supporting Deby militarily.
A contingent of 54 Irish military personnel bound for Chad was forced to turn back before they left Ireland. More than 400 Irish troops are due to be deployed as part of the Eufor force.
As calm returned to the dusty riverside capital, hundreds of refugees, who fled to Cameroon after the weekend clashes that killed at least 160 civilians, returned over the river border.
Emergency workers in N'Djamena scooped up bodies with an earthmover on Thursday, as people cleared debris from damaged buildings. Army pick-ups packed with turbaned soldiers sped around streets littered with burned out vehicles.
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. The European Union had started deployment of its force last week but suspended it almost immediately due to the 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.
A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the deployment would start again once the situation was clearer.