PARIS (Reuters) - The French Defence Ministry denied on Friday a newspaper report that its special forces had supported the Chadian government in fighting rebels who attacked the capital last weekend.
"No special force or French soldier took part in fighting between government forces and rebel forces," said General Christian Baptiste, a Defence Ministry spokesman.
"They did carry out protection operations for French citizens but also from the international community. They had to extract from the fighting zone a certain number of citizens and diplomats from the international community and they helped those who wanted to leave Chad by military plane," Baptiste said.
He has called on the European Union to deploy a peacekeeping force urgently in eastern Chad after the rebel assault.
Relations between the two countries were strained in October when Chad arrested six French aid workers for trying to kidnap 103 local children, who they were attempting to take to Europe for fostering without permission from the authorities.
In a sign that relations have improved since French President Nicolas Sarkozy threw his support behind Deby, the Chadian president said this week he would be prepared to pardon the aid workers if France requested it.
RTL radio said that five of the workers were likely to be released but the group's leader, Eric Breteau, might have to stay in jail but serve a reduced sentence.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Writing by Anna Willard, editing by Tim Pearce)
