French ambassador meets Chad's new leader

France's ambassador to Chad met with the country's new leader, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, son of late president Idriss Deby Itno, who died earlier this week of injuries sustained while confronting a rebel advance.

After Wednesday's meeting, ambassador Bertrand Cochery voiced his country's continued support for the people of the Chad amid its security situation.

A military spokesman announced Idriss Deby Itno's death on Tuesday and said in the same announcement that his 37-year-old son would serve as the head of an 18-month-long transitional government.

However, the constitution calls for the National Assembly president to become the country's leader in the event a president dies in office.

The National Assembly president said late Wednesday that he supported the decision to bypass him and appoint the military council to lead the transition instead.

The rebel group that the military blamed for President Idriss Deby Itno's death said its forces were advancing on the capital N'Djamena and were threatening to depose the son of Chad's slain president after he was named interim leader of the central African nation on Tuesday.

The statement raises the spectre of a potentially violent power struggle in the city of 1 million people.