Fresh fighting between Chad rebels, government forces

Government troops and rebels clashed on Thursday in a region of western Chad where president Idriss Deby Itno was killed last week, a spokesman said.

"Fighting is continuing in Kanem -- we are going to have continue to fight, otherwise they will destabilise us," General Azem Bermandoa Agouna, spokesman of the military junta which took power after Deby's death, told AFP.

The so-called Military Transition Council (CMT) is headed by Deby's son, 37-year-old Mahamat Idriss Deby.

Fighting is going on in the desert region of Kanem, about 300 kilometres (180 miles) north of the capital N'Djamena, near the border with Niger.

Rebels are gathered in a group called the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), drawn mainly from the Goran ethnic group.

Security sources, without giving further details, said the Chadian army bombarded FACT positions.

Deby, 68, died on April 19 from mortal wounds that he suffered fighting the Libya-based rebels, according to the authorities.

The insurgents had launched an offensive in the northern Tibesti region on April 11 as presidential elections were unfolding.

Deby died on the day that the electoral commission confirmed that he had won a landslide victory, the authorities say.

FACT is led by Mahamat Mahadi Ali, a veteran insurgent who previously lived in France.

Deby, a career soldier, seized power in 1990 and exercised it ruthlessly for 30 years.

Map of Chad locating the Tibesti and Kanem regions, where clashes have occurred between the army and rebels. By Aude GENET (AFP)

He was fiercely criticised for authoritarianism and inequality, but for many Western countries, including the former colonial power France, he was a trusty ally, especially in the fight against jihadism in the Sahel.

FACT vowed to pursue its offensive after a pause for Deby's funeral on April 23.

Experts believe FACT has between 1,500 and 2,000 fighters.

The Chadian army claimed on April 19 to have killed 300 rebels and captured 246 others, who were being taken to the capital N'Djamena to stand trial.

Military casualties have not been made public.

The armed forces have recently sent reinforcements to Kanem, security forces said.

On Sunday, the CMT announced there would be no "mediation or negotiation" with FACT and called on Niger to help it capture the group's chief.

The CMT took over on April 20, immediately after Deby's death was announced, as parliament and government were dissolved.

It has promised an 18-month transition period before "free and transparent" elections.

At least six people died on Tuesday in banned protests against the junta, according to the authorities, while a local NGO reported nine fatalities.

On Monday, the military junta appointed Albert Pahimi Padacke as transitional prime minister. He called for a nationwide effort to speed the return to civilian rule.