Chadian authorities on Friday brushed aside calls to postpone a presidential election next week and said neither rebel threats of violence nor logistical obstacles would stop it going ahead.
Despite recent attacks by armed rebels, including a raid on the capital, electoral officials said all was ready to hold the polls in the vast, landlocked central African country twice the size of France where planes, trucks, and even camels had been used to distribute ballot papers.
President Idriss Deby, who has ruled oil and cotton producer Chad since seizing power in 1990, is standing for a third term in a May 3 poll which opponents are boycotting as a farce and the rebels say they will try to disrupt.
Bolstered by French political and military support, government forces have fought off the insurgents Deby says are backed by neighbour Sudan. He insists Chad must hold the vote as scheduled under the constitution or face the risk of civil war.
"Come rain or shine, there will be elections," the head of Chad's Independent National Election Commission Ahmat Mahamat Bachir told Reuters.
He dismissed media reports that the African Union and United States had suggested Deby should postpone the election to hold reconciliation talks with his opponents. "Chad doesn't depend on the African Union or the United States. Chad is a sovereign country," former education minister Bachir said.
Deby, a French-trained pilot who was re-elected in polls held in 1996 and 2001, is standing for a third term after a referendum last year removed a constitutional limit restricting the president to two terms.
The main opposition parties, which portray him as an autocratic ruler who has favoured his own ethnic Zaghawa clan but neglected the country, are shunning the election as a farce. They point out Deby faces only four challengers, all linked to or sympathetic to his administration.
"Five candidates, that's enough. May the best one win," Bachir said. Two weeks after a dawn raid on N'Djamena by rebel fighters who had raced in pick-up trucks from the east, the dusty, tree-lined streets were calm on Friday.
Most election posters visible backed Deby with slogans like "I vote for Deby because I love peace".
Rebels from the United Front for Democratic Change (FUC), a loose but fractious anti-Deby coalition, have vowed to overthrow him and disrupt the election. Bachir dismissed the rebels as "adventurers" and "mercenaries".
"Where are they now? I can assure you that Chad and its 1,284,000 square km are under the control of the government and that the electoral commission is ready to organise the elections in every corner of the country." he said.
But he acknowledged the vast dimensions of Chad, which includes sun- and wind-blasted mountains in the north, desert and savannah in the east and greener farming areas in the south, made it difficult to distribute ballot papers for the 5.8 million registered voters.
The country lacked enough roads and infrastructure. "We've been using planes, trucks, carts and camels," he said.
In a sign the anti-Deby rebels were preparing for a possible fresh attack, neighbouring Central African Republic said it had detected two planeloads of armed men making unauthorised landings this week in its north, close to the Chad border.
The government in Bangui called on the international community, particularly France, for help to prevent the illegal use of its territory.
French warplanes, part of a French military contingent stationed in Chad, have been flying surveillance flights and passing on information about the rebels' positions to the government. One plane fired a warning shot over a rebel column two weeks ago.
The French jets roared overhead on Friday as they set out for their latest patrol, but some N'Djamena residents feared a possible new attack. "It's quiet now, thanks be to God, but who knows?" said one local businessman, who asked not to be named.