Red Cross: Hundreds Of Civilians Have Died in Chad

N'DJAMENA, Chad — Hundreds of civilians have died in fierce fighting between rebels and government forces in Chad's capital, Red Cross officials said yesterday, as the insurgents agreed to a ceasefire and their momentum faded. Former colonial power France threatened to enter the fight to support the government.

Chad's government told the French military it was fighting rebels using "air power" outside of N'Djamena, the capital, according to a French military spokesman, Cmdr. Christophe Prazuck.

The chief rebel leader, Mahamat Nouri, charged they were being bombarded by French Mirage jets — but France said it had not yet gone on the attack. French intervention in the past helped stave off a major rebel attack in this oil-rich country on President Idriss Deby, accused by the insurgents of corruption and embezzling millions in oil revenue.

Yesterday, bodies lay rotting under a tropical sun in N'Djamena, according to a local reporter who left his home yesterday for the first time since the rebels entered on Saturday.

Corpses of more than 10 military and civilian victims were sprawled across Avenue Mobutu, a main thoroughfare. The charred hulks of two tanks and several pickup trucks, used by both sides in the fighting, littered the streets. Most downtown shops and buildings have been looted. Further from the center, the state broadcasting station and the parliament building were stripped by rampaging looters.

The Presidential Palace, which backs onto the Chari River, was off limits, the entrance blocked by tanks and tree limbs. Presidential guards patrolled outside.

Chad Red Cross officials said hundreds of civilians have died, most from bullet wounds. The officials, who were driving around looking for wounded, said they were too scared to give their names.

More than 1,000 people have been wounded, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. Soldiers barred the two bridges across the Chari River that divides N'Djamena from neighboring Cameroon on yesterday afternoon, blocking the escape route for hundreds of civilians, and possibly rebels.

As many as 20,000 people have fled across the river, the U.N. refugee agency said. The Red Cross said the number of fleeing grew steadily earlier yesterday, and could have reached 30,000.