Newly re-elected president of Chad, Idriss Deby has been killed during a fight with rebels in the north of the Sahel country.
Deby suffered fatal injuries on the frontline while fighting the rebels, Army spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna has revealed.
Agouna made the announcement hours after electoral officials declared the 68-year-old Deby as winner of the April 11 presidential election, paving the way for him to stay in power for six more years after ruling that countr for 30-year.
According to his campaign manager, Deby had postponed his victory speech to supporters and instead went to visit Chadian soldiers battling the rebel.
Reports have it that the rebel group Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), based across the northern frontier with Libya had attacked a border post on election day and then advanced hundreds of kilometres south.
General Azem Bermandoa Agouna said in a statement read out on state television; “Deby, 68 has just breathed his last defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield.
“It is not known why the president would have visited the area or participated in ongoing clashes with the rebels who opposed his rule. Deby came to power in a rebellion in 1990 and is one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders”.
General Mahamat Kaka, the son of the deceased Chadian leader, has been named interim head of the state