PARIS (Reuters) - Chad's President Idriss Deby urged the European Union on Thursday to send a peacekeeping force to his country as quickly as possible.
"It would have helped us if EUFOR was already in place," Deby told France's Europe 1 radio.
He said looking after some 300,000 refugees and 170,000 displaced Chadians was a burden on Chad's forces.
He again accused neighbouring Sudan of backing the rebel offensive and said he feared Sudan would help the rebels launch another attack. "It is not impossible because the international community is saying nothing against Sudan," he said.
Sudan denies destabilising Chad and accuses Chad of supporting a five-year uprising in its remote Darfur region.
It said deployment of the EU force, originally planned for last Friday, was vital to keeping aid flowing.
The incident, involving the aid group "Zoe's Ark" which said it had gone to Chad to help children orphaned in the conflict-torn Darfur region, aroused strong feelings last year but Deby said the situation had settled down.
(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
