Dissidents claim to kill head of president’s security

Dissidents calling themselves the Mouvement pour la democratie et la justice au Tchad (MDJT) said on Sunday they had killed the head of the country’s presidential security detail, General Kerim Nassour, AFP reported. They said Nassour and his aide, Colonel Fadoul Allamine, died in fighting in northern Chad. The MDJT, which is demanding “the immediate resignation” of President Idriss Deby, said that between 18 and 29 December 2000 it had killed 413 government soldiers, among them 40 senior officers. The government could not be immediately reached for comment and there has been no independent confirmation of these claims. For its part, AFP reported, the government announced on 20 December 2000 that it had captured an undisclosed number of dissidents and had killed the MDJT’s deputy chief of staff, Doungous Kelleye.