Chad Military In Fresh Clashes With Rebels

Government troops have clashed with rebels in a region of western Chad where the late president Idriss Deby was killed earlier this month, to according military officials.

Junta spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna told Newsmen that fighting is continuing in Kanem and that they would have to continue to fight in order not to be destabilized.

The fighting in the desert region of Kanem, near Chad’s border with Niger, pits Libya-based rebels against forces loyal to a new military junta led by Deby’s son.

For now, the fighting against the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), drawn mainly from the Goran ethnic group, is going on about 300 kilometres north of the capital N’Djamena.

The military said late Thursday that an MI24 helicopter had crashed due to a technical fault but did not specify if there were casualties but the rebels on the other hand said they had destroyed it.

The rebels have threatened to march on N’Djamena, where a team from the African Union arrived Thursday to assess the situation and examine ways of a speedy return to democratic rule.

Meanwhile, Prosecutors said Thursday that they were interviewing over 700 people arrested at demonstrations on Tuesday and Wednesday.