Chad rebel leader agrees to ceasefire: Libyan agency

LONDON (Reuters) - A Chadian rebel leader has agreed to a ceasefire with government forces following mediation by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the official Libyan news agency JANA reported on Saturday.

"The leader and brother (Gaddafi) had a telephone call with Mahamat Nouri, one of the leaders of the insurgency in Chad, and it was agreed ... to cease fire and to hold negotiations to implement the Tripoli agreement for peace and reconciliation," the agency, monitored in London, said on its Web site.

No independent confirmation of the report was immediately available.

Chadian rebels surrounded the presidential palace in N'Djamena on Saturday after fighting their way into the capital, and France began evacuating French and foreign nationals.

Gaddafi is regarded as an influential player in the region.

In October, four Chadian rebel groups initialed a peace agreement with the government in a deal brokered by Libya.

In November, Nouri's UFDD rebel group abandoned a ceasefire and accused the government of not honoring parts of the Libyan-brokered peace accord. Nouri is a former defence minister.

(Reporting by Sami Aboudi; editing by Robert Woodward)