Chad loses historic voice in looting of state radio

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - From landmark speeches made atindependence to recordings of beloved musicians long sincedead, Chad lost historic audio archives in the looting frenzythat accompanied a rebel assault on its capital this month.

Like many other state institutions in N'Djamena, the RadioNationale du Tchad (RNT) was pillaged by civilians who ran amokduring two days of chaos on February 2-3 when government forceswere busy repelling the insurgents in the city.

All that remains is the charred shell of its offices.

Walls are blackened; windows have exploded; furniture hasbeen reduced to rubble.

Inside the gutted building, every public audio archivesince Chad's independence has gone up in smoke, includingrecordings of the former French colony's independence dayitself.

"There's nothing left to be saved," said RNT directorHalime Assadia Ali, covering her mouth with her headscarf togive some protection from the choking dust.

Ash and twisted metal crackle underfoot as journalists tryto salvage what they can from the wreckage.

In the archives department, decades' worth of radio spoolslie in neat rows, crumpled by the heat.

"I don't know why they did this because the radio is like anational institution, it's the voice of everybody, it's for thewhole country, so I don't know why it would be destroyed,"Halime told Reuters.

"It's existed since 1955, but with all the events we've hadin Chad this is the first time the radio has been looted, burntand trashed."

The uncomfortable truth is that civilian looters did thedamage as they poured into the streets, ransacking parliamentbuildings, ministries and foreigners' residences, many drivenby resentment against President Idriss Deby's 18-year rule.

Deby's forces said they beat off the rebel raiders on thecity, whom they said were backed by Sudan -- a charge denied byKhartoum. The rebels said they withdrew and would strike again.

BROADCASTING FROM A MOSQUE

Following the destruction of the state radio station, itsjournalists decamped to N'Djamena's main mosque, where 'KoranFM', the mosque's in-house radio station, opened up itsoffices.

In between calls to prayer from the mosque's twin minarets,state radio is now back on the air, broadcasting in French,Arabic and a host of other local languages.

The station normally employs 350 people, but only afraction of these can fit into Koran FM's tiny offices.

"Our teams who finish working late at night are forced tosleep in the mosque because it's too late to go home, what withthe curfew and security situation," said broadcast journalistBarribo Talo.

"The conditions are difficult, there are no mosquito nets,and lots of us are falling ill with malaria."

Talo is angry at those who pillaged the radio, which willcost more than $6 million to re-establish.

Traditional music, as well as landmark speeches includingthose by Francois Tomalbaye, Chad's first president afterindependence, and Hissene Habre, a former dictator now awaitingtrial for crimes against humanity, have all gone up in smoke.

"Those who came to loot don't even know the value of whatthey took," Talo said, adding that the state would be able tobuy new equipment, but not replace the destroyed archives.

"Certain songs, certain political speeches, these have allbeen ruined. Some artists who are dead, we've lost all theirsongs. We've lost our cultural riches, many of the country'smemories have been lost forever," Talo added

(Editing by Nick Tattersall)