N'DJAMENA, April 3 (Reuters) - Chad used a state of emergency to forcibly evict more than 10,000 residents from poor neighbourhoods of the capital N'Djamena after a failed rebel attack, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

President Idriss Deby's government demolished at least 1,798 homes in 11 neighbourhoods during the 30-day state of emergency in the arid central African oil producer, the U.S.-based group said. The state of emergency was declared in early February after a rebel attack in which hundreds of people were killed.

Municipal workers delivered eviction notices to residents by painting the date of demolition on an outside wall and many people were given just a couple of days warning before their homes were demolished, Human Rights Watch said.

"They were supposed to come on February 22, but they came on February 20," said a 36-year-old man interviewed in the report, who was not identified. "They came early in the morning with soldiers and three bulldozers. They said they would destroy my house with me in it. I lost everything."

Human Rights Watch said some of those evicted were camping in the streets of N'Djamena. Many have joined the 30,000 registered refugees living in a camp in nearby northern Cameroon since the attack, it said.

"People who lived in the capital for decades have been left homeless and destitute, with little legal recourse," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

"In many cases, the Chadian government failed to provide adequate notification, compensation and resettlement assistance to affected communities, as required by international law."

The government said some settlements were illegally built on state-owned land, while others were cleared to make way for a new hospital. The rights group said it hundreds of demolished homes had not been on any official list of buildings destroyed.

It called on the international community to press Chad to properly compensate and relocate those evicted. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ ) (Reporting by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

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