Chad army and rebels clash

Deby's power has weakened (file photo)

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Chadian rebel and government forces clashed on the border with Sudan as the rebels briefly occupied part of a frontier town to help two army officers and their men defect.

Chad's government said Tine, on the frontier with Sudan, was attacked at the weekend by "mercenaries in the pay of Khartoum", the term it uses to describe rebels opposed to Idriss Deby, the president, who has ruled the country since 1990.
  
It said government forces repulsed the attack.