BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday strongly condemned the rebel attacks in Chad, while the president of the central African country claimed rebels had been expelled from its capital N'Djamena.

    "The secretary-general is greatly troubled by the worsening security situation in Chad, resulting from the ongoing fighting between government forces and rebel fighters," UN spokesman Stephanie Dujarric told reporters.

    "He strongly condemns once again any attempts to seize power by force or other unconstitutional means, and appeals to the protagonists to resolve their political differences through peaceful negotiations," Dujarric added.

    The rebel United Front for Change (FUC) Thursday launched a pre-dawn attack on N'Djamena to oust President Idris Deby. It engaged in a fierce battle with the government forces backed by attack helicopters, tanks and heavy weapons.

    Fighting broke out on the outskirts of the capital and a number of the rebel forces had entered the city, military sources said.

Chad's President Idris Deby is seen is this file photo dated June 30, 2004. (Xinhua/AFP photo)

    Deby later declared the situation had been brought under control. "The rebel columns have been completely destroyed... The situation is completely under control," he told Radio France international (RFI) early on Thursday.

    The Security Council was meeting behind closed doors to discuss the situation in Chad, at the request of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which currently holds the presidency of the African Union (AU).

    The members of the Council "condemned any attempt to seize power by force, and called on the rebels to put an end to violence and to participate in the democratic process," said China's UN envoy Wang Guangya, who chairs the presidency of the council for April.

    The Council urged the Chadian and Sudanese governments to abide by a Feb. 8 accord under which they agreed not to harbor rebels ontheir territories or conduct mutually hostile activities.

    The Chadian government had accused neighboring Sudan of supporting the rebels. Khartoum denied the accusation, stressing its commitment to the Tripoli agreement signed by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Chadian President Deby during a mini African summit in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Feb. 8.

    "Sudan has nothing to do with the incidents in Chad and considers them as an internal affair," Minister of Foreign AffairsLam Akol told reporters.

    Akol affirmed that Sudan hoped neighboring Chad would remain stable, saying that instability in Chad would negatively affect the security situation in Sudan.

    He said that Sudan would keep its borders open to receive Chadian refugees expected to flow into Sudan to seek asylums.

    "We are confronted with an attempt to seize power by force which is totally unacceptable," said France's UN envoy Jean-Marc de La Sabliere.

    "What's happening in Chad has a direct link with what's happening in Darfur," he said. "Those rebels were coming from Darfur and this is a continuation of attacks which took place in March and in December."

    He warned that the attacks could affect the stability of the entire central African region.

    France has sent 150 more troops to bolster its 1,200-strong military contingent in Chad to protect about 1,500 French citizensin the country. Enditem