At least 100 people have been killed in fighting between rebels and government forces in Chad last weekend, according to aid agencies.
The bodies of at least 100 civilians lay in N'Djamena's three main hospitals and as many as 700 more people were being treated for bullet wounds and injuries from mortar fire, Guilhem Molinie, head of mission for Medecins Sans Frontieres-Brussels said.
He said the death toll was likely to rise as Red Cross workers were still recovering bodies.
After obtaining UN Security Council support for Chad's President Idriss Deby's government, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday his country could intervene if needed against the rebels, whom Chad says are supported by Sudan. Khartoum denies this.
Deby, who has fought off several rebel bids to end his 18-year rule in the central African oil producer, said he had not yet asked the French army to step in.
Deby said today his government was in total control of the country after beating back a rebel offensive.
Making his first public appearance since rebels attacked the capital N'Djamena on Saturday and besieged his presidential palace, Deby accused the president of neighboring Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, of backing the rebel offensive.
"We have total control of the situation, not only in the capital, but also the whole country," Deby, wearing military uniform, told a news conference at his palace in N'Djamena after meeting French Defense Minister Herve Morin.