By Stephanie Hancock and Emmanuel Jarry
N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chad's President Idriss Deby metFrench leader Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday and announced aninternational inquiry into a rebel raid on the capital and thedisappearance of opposition politicians.
Sarkozy, in Chad hoping to clarify the fate of the missingopposition leaders and push for cross-party talks, met Deby atthe palace where he was besieged during two days of heavyfighting on Feb 2-3 which Deby said killed more than 400civilians.
A planned joint news conference was cancelled at the lastmoment and Sarkozy left without talking to journalists.
"Decisions have been taken, including the setting up of aninternational inquiry to shed light on all things that happenedin N'Djamena during this period," Deby told reporters.
France, Chad's former colonial ruler and long-term ally,came to Deby's aid during the attack, delivering ammunition tohis troops and drafting a U.N. resolution in his support.
That prompted Deby to consider pardoning six French aidworkers in jail in France for trying to kidnap 103 Chadianchildren in a high-profile case that tested diplomatic ties.
But since the rebels withdrew, France has steadilyincreased pressure on Deby's administration to talk to theopposition and produce three politicians dragged from theirhomes during the fighting, which aid workers say killed morethan 250 people.
Former President Lol Mahamat Choua has been released underhouse arrest, but Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh and NgarlejyYorongar have yet to be found -- although Deby's governmentsays Yorongar was spotted last week in N'Djamena.
Before leaving for Chad, Sarkozy met representatives fromsix international non-governmental organisations, includingHuman Rights Watch, which has said he should not visit Chaduntil the government proved the opposition members were alive.
"He told them he favoured the creation of a crediblecommission of inquiry into the disappearance of the oppositionfigures and that he favoured the resumption of politicaldialogue," Sarkozy's spokesman David Martinon said.
He said Sarkozy would tell Deby friendship between the twostates could grow only if the pace of democracy in Chad spedup.
SARKOZY ACCOMPANIED BY NEW BRIDE
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the model-turned-singer making herfirst overseas trip as first lady after marrying the Frenchpresident this month, met the wife of missing oppositioncoalition leader Saleh at the French embassy in N'Djamena.
Saleh's anti-Deby coalition stepped up pressure on Franceon Tuesday, accusing it of overstepping the terms of a militarypact with Chad and of backing Deby "whatever he has done".
Chadian authorities say they detained Choua, 70, as a"prisoner of war" on February 3 and that he will remain underhouse arrest while the inquiry against him continues. They saythey are not holding the two other opposition figures.
"The way he was taken from his home was quite brutal. Hewas scared and thought he was going to be executed," Choua'sspokesman Mahamat Allhou Tahir said.
European Union aid commissioner Louis Michel, accompanyingSarkozy to Chad, planned to meet political parties to helpstart political dialogue and revive a deal on democratic reformthat the government and opposition struck in August.
However, opposition representatives angry over thepolitical situation refused to meet pro-government parties andwere to see Michel and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchnerat a separate meeting, opposition officials said.
The European Union is deploying a 3,700-strong force inChad to protect several hundred thousand Sudanese and Chadianrefugees living in camps in the dangerous east of the country.
But critics have demanded more action to restore peace.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau in Paris, DavidBrunnstrom in Brussels; Writing by Alistair Thomson)
