Fighting at Chad presidency leaves 19 killed, several injured

Gunmen have launched an attack on the presidential complex in Chad's capital, N'Djamena, sparking a battle that left 18 attackers and one security personnel member dead and several others injured, the government said.

AFP news agency reporters heard gunfire near the site in N'Djamena on Wednesday, with tanks seen on the street, while security sources reported that armed men had tried to storm the complex.

The government later said 19 people were killed in the fighting, of which 18 were members of the 24-strong group that launched the assault.

"There were 18 dead and six injured" among the attackers ", and we suffered one death and three injured, one of them seriously", government spokesperson and Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah told AFP.

As civilians rushed out of the centre in cars and motorcycles, armed police were seen at several points in the centre.

The gunfire erupted less than two weeks after the landlocked country in Africa's northern half held a contested general election.

The government hailed it as a key step towards ending military rule, but it was marked by low turnout and opposition allegations of fraud.

The election had taken place against a backdrop of recurring attacks by the militant group Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region, the ending of a military accord with former colonial master France, and accusations that Chad was interfering in the conflict ravaging neighbouring Sudan.

Several hours earlier on Wednesday, China's foreign minister Wang Li met with President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and other senior officials.

France's last Sahel bases

The former French colony hosted France's last military bases in the region known as the Sahel, but at the end of November, it ended the defence and security agreements with Paris, calling them "obsolete".

Around a thousand French military personnel were stationed there and are in the process of being withdrawn.

France is now reconfiguring its military presence in Africa after being driven out of three Sahelian countries governed by juntas hostile to Paris — Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Senegal and Ivory Coast have also asked France to leave military bases on their territory.

Deby took power in 2021 after the death of his father, who had ruled the Sahel country for three decades.

The country's opposition has accused his government of being autocratic and repressive.

The desert country is an oil producer, but is ranked fourth from bottom in the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI).

To consolidate his grip on power, Deby has reshuffled the army, historically dominated by the Zaghawas and Gorane, his mother's ethnic group.

On the diplomatic front, he has sought new strategic partnerships, including with Russia and Hungary.