France threw its weight behind Chad's President Idriss Deby tonight, saying it could intervene against armed rebels whose weekend attack on the capital threatened to trigger a fresh humanitarian crisis.
After obtaining UN Security Council backing for Mr Deby's government, French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned the rebels France would "do its duty" and had the means to respond to any unlawful attack against its former colony.
France has more than 1,000 troops, as well as aircraft, stationed in Chad which have given logistical and intelligence support to Mr Deby's army in its fight against the rebels.
"Our biggest handicap is the French army, not Idriss Deby," Mahamat Nouri, head of the rebel UFDD faction, told French radio RFI. "Without France, we are ready to chase Deby away today."
Mr Nouri said his troops lost many vehicles during two days of fierce combat in which they reached the brink of the presidential palace, but they remained camped 25 km (16 miles) from N'Djamena. "We are not ready to return to Sudan," he said.
Chad has accused Sudan of supporting an offensive by the rebels, who stormed into the capital of the oil-producing central African country on Saturday. Khartoum denies this and accuses Chad in turn of supporting rebels in its Darfur region.
The city was calm today. Ambulances collected the dead, although witnesses said some bodies still lay in central avenues. Some streets bore the scars of bullets and shells.
Fearing fresh attacks, more than 50,000 people fled south from N'Djamena into northern Cameroon across the bridge over the Longone-Chari river.
Thousands more were displaced in and around N'Djamena and food and clean water were running short.
"I'm deeply concerned that we're seeing another serious humanitarian crisis developing," said Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid.