(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-03 22:40

The rebels currently fighting in the city are believed to be a coalition of three groups. The biggest is led by Mahamat Nouri, a former diplomat who defected 16 months ago, and a nephew of Deby's, Timan Erdimi. They have long been fighting to overthrow Deby, whom they accuse of corruption. Deby, himself a soldier, has seen many defect from the army, where morale is low.

The rebels are also angry with the president for not providing what they consider enough support to insurgents in Sudan's Darfur region, some of whom are from Deby's own tribe, the Zaghawa, who are found in both Chad and Sudan.

The African Union, holding a summit in Ethiopia, said it would not recognize the rebels should they seize power, and selected Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso to try to broker a peace deal.

Libya's official news agency, JANA, reported overnight that Nouri had agreed to a cease-fire Saturday after speaking to Gadhafi. But the rebels denied any truce had been struck.

France condemned the rebel push on the capital, and backed the African mediation effort.

The United Nations was temporarily evacuating Chad and the US Embassy said it had authorized the departure of its nonessential staff.

China's foreign ministry said Sunday that most of its citizens had evacuated and only nine embassy staff and a few other Chinese remained in N'Djamena.

Despite efforts to get foreigners out of the country, two Americans with US-based group Stop Genocide were among about 50 people at N'Djamena's Le Meridien hotel when it was attacked Saturday, said the group's spokesman, Cory Preston.

In a blog for the organization's Web site, founder Gabriel Stauring described parts of the wall falling around him as French soldiers, who were guarding the hotel, traded fire with unknown gunmen.

French officials said foreigners wishing to leave Chad were being transferred to Libreville, Gabon, starting Saturday night. Nearly 400 had been evacuated by midday Sunday, and about 600 were gathered at safety points guarded by French soldiers, said the military spokesman, Prazuck.

France's military has about 1,400 personnel in Chad, including 1,200 in the capital. Paris sent more troops Thursday to boost its presence, although Prazuck said six Mirage fighter jets based in N'Djamena were ordered out of the city Sunday to prevent their being damaged in the fighting.

It was not clear if French forces would intervene to stop the fighting -- a move that could jeopardize the planned EU peacekeeping mission to the country.

"If they were to intervene, the neutrality of the European intervention in Chad is over and it would blow France's policy on European defense," said Roland Marchal, a Chad expert and researcher at the French Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales.

Chad's government might be getting less help from France than it did during previous rebel attacks, said Henri Boshoff, a military analyst at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa.

Previously, "the French gave them intelligence using aerial reconnaissance, and that allowed the Chad government to act," Boshoff told The Associated Press. "But it looks like this time it's too late, the rebels got too close."

The difference could be that former President Jacques Chirac had tried to project the image of France as a friendly protector on the African continent. The new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has called for a "healthier relationship," saying it would not be business as usual with France's old allies on the continent.

The most recent rebellions in Chad began in 2005 in the east, erupting at the same time as the conflict in Sudan's western region of Darfur. The governments of Chad and Sudan accuse one another of backing the other's rebel groups.

Deby came to power at the head of a rebellion in 1990; he has won elections since. He brought a semblance of peace after three decades of civil war and an invasion by Libya, but became increasingly isolated.

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