By Moumine Ngarmbassa and Emmanuel Braun
N'DJAMEMA (Reuters) - France's defence minister flew toChad on Wednesday in a show of support for President IdrissDeby who survived a weekend assault on the capital N'Djamena byrebels.
Herve Morin's visit came as France, which has warplanes andmore than 1,000 troops stationed in its former colony, threwits weight behind Deby, who has fought off several bids byrebels to end his 18-year rule in the central African oilproducer.
"I can confirm that Mr Morin is in N'Djamena and will bevisiting French troops and the Chadian authorities," aspokesman at the French military base in N'Djamena toldReuters.
After obtaining U.N. Security Council backing for Deby'sgovernment, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesdayhis country could intervene if called upon against the rebels,whom Chad says are backed by neighbour Sudan. Khartoum deniesthis.
In Paris, a Defence Ministry source said Morin would be inChad "for a few hours" and would meet Deby, whose forces heldoff a rebel attack on the presidential palace at the weekend.
Deby's government says it defeated the force made up ofthree main rebel groups, which had stormed into the capital onSaturday aboard armed pickup trucks after making a lightningadvance from the eastern border with Sudan's Darfur region.
But the rebels, who denounce the president -- himself aformer insurgent -- as corrupt and dictatorial, said theirwithdrawal late on Sunday was tactical and that they wouldregroup and strike again.
N'Djamena was reported to be calm on Wednesday.
French warplanes have been flying reconnaissance missionsover rebel positions and French Foreign Minister BernardKouchner said on Wednesday that a rebel force of between 100and 200 vehicles was still somewhere east of the capital.
Tens of thousands of N'Djamena residents fled south intoCameroon after the weekend fighting, but hundreds startedreturning on Wednesday after the Chadian government made TV andradio broadcasts saying it was safe to come back.
"We've chased out the mercenaries of (Sudanese President)Omar Hassan al-Bashir ... Today we totally control N'Djamena,"Deby's current military high commander, Gen. Mahamat AliAbdallah Nassour, said in the broadcasts.
