N’DJAMENA, Chad – Chad’s President Idriss Deby has died while visiting troops on the front lines of a fight against northern rebels, an army spokesman said on Tuesday.

Deby’s death comes just one day after he was declared the winner of a sixth term in office.

On Monday, his campaign said he was headed to the northern part of the country to join troops in fighting “terrorists.”

Rebels based in Libya had attacked a border post on Monday, and advanced hundreds of kilometers south across the desert.

Deby, 68, began his 30-year rule of the country in 1990 after leading a rebellion, and was one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.

Deby was re-elected for a sixth term with 79.32 percent of the vote, provisional results released by the election commission showed on Monday.

The elections were held on April 11 and had a turnout of just under 65 percent.

Former prime minister Albert Pahimi Padacke came in second with 10.32 percent of the vote, while Chad’s first female president candidate, Lydie Beassemda, secured 3.16 percent. The election was boycotted by the country’s top opposition leaders.

The results were yet to be confirmed by the Supreme Court.

Chad, a country in central Africa, is often associated with violence and instability. It remains one of the poorest countries in the world — despite huge oil deposits.

Deby had been due to give a victory speech on Monday, but his campaign director said he had instead visited Chadian soldiers battling insurgents advancing on the capital, N’Djamena.

“The candidate would have liked to have been here to celebrate … but right now, he is alongside our valiant defence and security forces to fight the terrorists threatening our territory,” his campaign director Mahamat Zen Bada said.

Deby had campaigned on a promise of peace and security in the region, which has been gripped by insurgency and violence for years.

Chad’s army said on Monday that it had killed about 300 rebels and detained 150.

According to military spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna, heavily armed rebels fighting for the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) entered northern Chad from Libya and passed through the province of Kanem before approaching the capital.

Five soldiers were killed and 36 wounded in the clashes between forces and rebels, he said.

The country supports the G5 Sahel alliance in combating terror in the region. Several terrorist groups are active in the Sahel, and some of them have ties to Islamic terrorist groups such as al-Qaida or Islamic State.

The recent clashes in Chad have caused alarm in Western countries, many of whom view Deby as an ally in the fight against regional terrorism.

The United States had asked all its nonessential embassy staff to leave the country. Britain too has advised its citizens to leave Chad as soon as possible. – Reuters