DAKAR, 28 November (IRIN) - International relief agencies on Tuesday began evacuating non-essential staff with the help of the French military from the eastern town of Abeche after a rebel assault on Saturday.

By late Tuesday, 179 staff from the United Nations and NGOs had registered for evacuation at the French military base outside Abeche, located 900 km east of the capital, Ndjamena, Helene Caux, spokesperson for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said by phone from Abeche.

"Thirty percent of our staff is going to be relocated to N'djamena," Caux told IRIN. "That includes people who were in Abeche and in our field offices in the refugee camps. At the same time we are also bringing in other staff - key people to keep the refugee operation going. So at this point the activities in the refugee camps are not being affected."

Abeche serves as a key base for aid operations in eastern Chad, assisting 218,000 refugees from Sudan's neighbouring Darfur region as well as 90,000 Chadians who have fled attacks. Chad has accused Sudan of harbouring the rebels and Sudan denies this.

Caux said 80 percent of UNHCR's warehouse was looted after the rebels entered Abeche on Saturday and that US $1.3 million worth of tents, blankets, medicine, cooking utensils and other items were stolen. She said the wheels and batteries of trucks used to transport supplies to the refugees were also taken. The UN World Food Programme said its warehouse was also ransacked.

Witnesses reported that local residents were responsible for the looting and were joined by members of the Chadian military once the rebels retreated.

"Some of the people have dropped what they looted in the streets and it's being recovered by the army and humanitarian agencies," Caux said. "The army has been searching from house to house to find the things which have been looted. What has been recovered is very damaged so we can't use it."

Relief workers in Abeche said soldiers were in the streets on Tuesday but the town was calm. Fighting was reported on Monday night north of Abeche in the Am Zoer region.

Sources close to the military said rebels had been spotted between Abeche and the border with Sudan but it was not immediately clear if the fighters were bunkering down or preparing to move in a particular direction.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the fighting that took place at the weekend between the rebels and the Chadian military "was violent".

"There were many dead," one source said, estimating the number to be "several dozen," including heavy losses on the part of the insurgents. He said the rebels were mainly fighting with small arms.

Meanwhile, WFP on Tuesday said one of its chief preoccupations was to maintain the food pipeline to the dozen refugee camps it serves in eastern Chad.

"For us a key concern at the moment is that all the trucks that we have carrying food into the east - one coming through the Sahara from Libya and one coming up from Cameroon from Douala - just keeps moving because our supply pipeline is fairly fragile," said Marcus Prior, WFP West Africa spokesperson. "Our major concern is that should the situation deteriorate many of the trucks will not be able to proceed."

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