NDJAMENA (Agencies)
Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno has refused a French offer to help him leave the country, despite being holed up in his palace cornered by rebels who seized most of the capital Ndjamena.
As international organizations reported looting in the capital and bodies littering the streets, a French military plane took 74 French and other nationalities out of Ndjamena late Saturday.
They arrived early Sunday in the Gabon capital Libreville, saying they were exhausted but happy to flee the encroaching fighting.
The French military said 900 foreigners had gathered at three assembly points around the city. The United Nations said it planned to evacuate its personnel to Cameroon.
No death toll from the fighting has been given but a U.N. security official said there were a lot of bodies in the streets, "some burned, some just hacked" to death.
Early Sunday, heavy weapons fire resumed in the center of Ndjamena, an AFP reporter said.
Anti-tank fire as well as automatic weapons fire was heard coming from the center of the city, where the presidential palace is located.
Military sources said Chadian army helicopters had been able to take off from the military base at the airport and had opened fire. French troops in Chad also have their base at the airport.
The helicopters attacked a column of rebels attempting to make a breakthrough in the southern sector of the city where the national radio station is located, a military source said. |
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African mediation France sent an extra 150 troops to help with the evacuations and French President Nicolas Sarkozy broke off from celebrating his wedding to twice telephone the west African nation's President Deby.
The Libyan news agency, Jana, said that Mahamat Nouri, the main rebel leader, had accepted a ceasefire proposed by Libyan leader Moamer Gadhafi, who was part of African Union efforts to halt the fighting.
But rebel spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah told AFP that the acceptance was conditional on the two other rebel chiefs giving their blessing. "Colonel Gadhafi has not yet asked for their opinions," he said.
The rebel force in about 300 pickup trucks started moving across the desert from a base near the eastern border with Sudan on Monday but major fighting only erupted Friday as they neared the capital.
Rebels took over large sections of Ndjamena on Saturday, military and rebel sources said, having already seized outlying neighborhoods and much of the city center in intense fighting with government forces. |
