Chad tells U.N. will carry out hot pursuit of rebels

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Chad has told the U.N. Security Council it will use its right to hot pursuit of Sudan-backed rebels back into Sudanese territory, according to a letter made available on Friday.

Chad's army is fighting to repel rebels who pushed to within 62 miles of the capital N'Djamena on Friday. The clashes delayed the deployment of European peacekeepers to the African country.

In a letter dated Thursday, Chad's U.N. mission told the Security Council: "Faced with the aggression orchestrated and strongly supported by Sudan, the Chadian government intends to use its legitimate right of defence by all means at its disposal, including pursuing the aggressors into Sudanese territory."

Chad asked the Security Council to take note of the situation, which it described as "a flagrant violation of the commitments undertaken by this neighbouring country, threatening peace and security in the sub-region".

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was visiting Kenya on Friday, said in a statement he was deeply concerned by the resumed fighting in Chad and expressed his "condemnation of the use of military means to seize power."

He called on "all parties to abide by their commitments under the different peace accords signed by them and to urgently resort to dialogue to reach a peaceful and negotiated settlement of this latest crisis."

Ban deplored the effect of the fighting on relief efforts in eastern Chad, which hosts some 240,000 refugees from Sudan's neighbouring violence-torn region of Darfur.

The U.N. refugee agency said on Friday it had moved more than 40 of its staff and aid workers from private organizations out of the eastern Chad town of Guereda because of a series of armed attacks in the area.

(Reporting by Patrick Worsnip, editing by Alan Elsner)