By Brian Rohan

PARIS, March 19 (Reuters) - Rebels on the border between Chad and Sudan have not threatened an EU military mission to protect civilians and refugees in the region, the mission's operational commander said on Wednesday.

The rebels, who fled N'Djamena in early February after their attack on the Chadian capital failed to overthrow the government, have retreated to the extreme east of the country, Irish Lieutenant General Patrick Nash told reporters.

"They are not interfering with our operations at the moment in any aspect, and we have not had direct contact with rebels in the context of operations," Nash said at a briefing outside Paris, adding that the rebels were positioned along the porous Sudan-Chad border zone.

The European force, known as EUFOR, has completed its first stage of deployment in eastern Chad and neighbouring Central African Republic, where it has a U.N. mandate to protect people from attack by the region's roving militias.

Nash dispelled claims by the Chadian government last week that rebel columns had crossed the border from Sudan as part of a new offensive.

"There was none. It is not for me to speculate as to how that got such credence, but it did," he said.

Hundreds of thousands have fled violence in Sudan's Darfur region to seek shelter in Chad, as a conflict between Khartoum and rebels in its provinces near the Chadian border stretches into its fifth year.

So far, nearly 1,800 troops from 11 countries have deployed to bases in eastern Chad, EUFOR spokesmen said, joining a force expected to reach full strength of 3,700 troops around end-May.

The force suffered its first fatality earlier this month when two French soldiers strayed across the border into Sudan and came under fire from the Sudanese army. A French soldier was shot dead and Sudan said five civilians were killed.

Nash said it was a map-reading accident and the force would aim to avoid such incidents by staying at least 5 km (3 miles) away from the Sudanese border.

Chadian rebels, which President Idriss Deby's government says are backed by Sudan, have said they fear the EU force will help prop up Deby's rule because of the predominance of troops from France, which also supports Chad under a separate military agreement.

Some analysts have described February's rushed attack on N'Djamena by the rebels as a last-ditch effort to knock out Deby before the force arrived.

Chad has lifted a state of emergency declared after the attack was repulsed with some French logistical help, but Deby's grip on power remains in question.

"Deby's regime is significantly weakened, so whether or not he will continue, that is a political issue and there's a question mark there," said EUFOR's deputy chief of operations in Chad and Central African Republic, Colonel Cornelius McNamara. (Editing by Giles Elgood)

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