THE dust-blown capital of Chad, Ndjamena, was racked by three hours of heavy fighting yesterday after rebels backed by neighbouring Sudan dashed across the Saharan country, which is three times the size of France, to launch a daring pre-dawn attack on forces loyal to Idriss Deby, the President.

After his forces used attack helicopters, tanks and heavy weapons to repel the insurgents, Mr Deby — who himself took power in a coup backed by Sudan in 1990 — declared the city was “completely under control” by mid-morning.

“There is nothing, nothing at all . . . There was some light weapons fire near the National Assembly, that’s all. Three vehicles were spotted, they were destroyed on the spot,” he said in a radio interview.

As he spoke, military helicopters and French-made Mirage F1 jetfighters patrolled overhead. Columns of thick black smoke could be seen rising from the centre. Mobile phone networks were switched off to obstruct communication between rebels and their supporters in the city.

Mr Deby presented almost 300 prisoners to the media last night.

He has angered Khartoum by failing to rein in armed militias who are using the east of his country to launch attacks against Sudanese forces in Darfur. The Government of Sudan has been accused of massacring thousands of civilians there to quash an insurgency by black Africans against the dominant Arab tribes.

In return, Sudan has backed opponents of the Chadian President, who recently changed the constitution so that he could remain in power for a third term.

Many Chadians also accuse him of failing to support the people of Darfur, many of whom belong to tribes that straddle the border.

Residents and a handful of foreign reporters said that most of the windows of the vast façade of the National Assembly in Ndjamena had been shot out. The floor was littered with broken glass, blood and scraps of soldiers’ uniforms.

An uneasy calm hung over the city. Most residents stayed inside but scores of Toyota pick-up trucks carrying heavily armed soldiers raced from one official building to another.

At the nearby parliament building, a large crowd of onlookers had gathered and in a huge cloud of dust two tanks — again laden with soldiers — were guarding the entrance.

On the steps of the building, soldiers had piled up the bodies of seven alleged rebels who had died in combat there.

The steps were soaked in blood, and one of the men was still twitching. A few yards away, a group of about 25 uniformed rebels were sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by an excitable crowd of Chadian soldiers.

The rebels of the United Front for Change (FUC), a loose coalition of eight antigovernment organisations, claim to be in control of 80 per cent of the country.

To underscore how little of the country the President now controls, they drove their pick-ups 620 miles in three days from their bases on the border with Sudan.

France, a former colonial power and close ally of the embattled President, has sent an extra 150 troops to bolster its contingent of 1,200 and protect the 1,500 French residents.

SPLIT STATE

The United Front for Change has been resisting Mr Deby for many years. It has bases in Sudan and aims to take the capital before elections scheduled for May

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