Chad loses historic voice in looting of state radio

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - From landmark speeches made at independence to recordings of beloved musicians long since dead, Chad lost historic audio archives in the looting frenzy that accompanied a rebel assault on its capital this month.

Like many other state institutions in N'Djamena, the Radio Nationale du Tchad (RNT) was pillaged by civilians who ran amok during two days of chaos on February 2-3 when government forces were busy repelling the insurgents in the city.

All that remains is the charred shell of its offices.

Walls are blackened; windows have exploded; furniture has been reduced to rubble.

Inside the gutted building, every public audio archive since Chad's independence has gone up in smoke, including recordings of the former French colony's independence day itself.

"There's nothing left to be saved," said RNT director Halime Assadia Ali, covering her mouth with her headscarf to give some protection from the choking dust.

Ash and twisted metal crackle underfoot as journalists try to salvage what they can from the wreckage.

In the archives department, decades' worth of radio spools lie in neat rows, crumpled by the heat.

"I don't know why they did this because the radio is like a national institution, it's the voice of everybody, it's for the whole country, so I don't know why it would be destroyed," Halime told Reuters.

"It's existed since 1955, but with all the events we've had in Chad this is the first time the radio has been looted, burnt and trashed."

The uncomfortable truth is that civilian looters did the damage as they poured into the streets, ransacking parliament buildings, ministries and foreigners' residences, many driven by resentment against President Idriss Deby's 18-year rule.

Deby's forces said they beat off the rebel raiders on the city, whom they said were backed by Sudan -- a charge denied by Khartoum. The rebels said they withdrew and would strike again.

BROADCASTING FROM A MOSQUE

Following the destruction of the state radio station, its journalists decamped to N'Djamena's main mosque, where 'Koran FM', the mosque's in-house radio station, opened up its offices.

In between calls to prayer from the mosque's twin minarets, state radio is now back on the air, broadcasting in French, Arabic and a host of other local languages.

The station normally employs 350 people, but only a fraction of these can fit into Koran FM's tiny offices.

"Our teams who finish working late at night are forced to sleep in the mosque because it's too late to go home, what with the curfew and security situation," said broadcast journalist Barribo Talo.

"The conditions are difficult, there are no mosquito nets, and lots of us are falling ill with malaria."

Talo is angry at those who pillaged the radio, which will cost more than $6 million to re-establish.

Traditional music, as well as landmark speeches including those by Francois Tomalbaye, Chad's first president after independence, and Hissene Habre, a former dictator now awaiting trial for crimes against humanity, have all gone up in smoke.

"Those who came to loot don't even know the value of what they took," Talo said, adding that the state would be able to buy new equipment, but not replace the destroyed archives.

"Certain songs, certain political speeches, these have all been ruined. Some artists who are dead, we've lost all their songs. We've lost our cultural riches, many of the country's memories have been lost forever," Talo added

(Editing by Nick Tattersall)