Rebel soldiers loyal to this central African country's former army chief clashed with government forces over the weekend, killing at least 12 people, military officials said Monday.

News of the fighting came as regional leaders met in Sudan to press for peace in the troubled Central African Republic.

Fighters loyal to ex-army chief of staff Francois Bozize ambushed government soldiers Sunday about three miles outside the rebel-controlled town of Kabo, on the northern border with Chad, military officials said on condition of anonymity.

At least 12 people were killed, they said, though a senior government official put the figure at 21. Most of the dead reportedly were government soldiers.

There was no official comment from the government or army.

Renegade soldiers fled with Bozize to Chad after several days of fighting in Bangui last month, which erupted when presidential guards reportedly tried to arrest Bozize.

Two weeks ago, the rebels returned to Central African Republic, advancing as far as Kaga-Bandoro - a town about 217 miles north of the capital - before government forces chased them back over the border.

President Ange-Felix Patasse accuses Bozize of taking part in a May coup attempt. Bozize denies it.

Patasse dismissed Bozize in October and stripped him of his rank of general on Nov. 14. He is demanding that Chad deport Bozize.

Libya sent troops to defend Patasse during the May coup attempt, and again last month. Libyan forces remain at the president's residence in Bangui.

Patasse has held power since he won elections in 1993, ending the 12-year military dictatorship of Gen. Andre Kolingba.

Several people have been killed in clashes between newly recruited loyalist troops and dissident soldiers in northern Central African Republic, relatives of missing army recruits said on Monday.

Reports of the fighting came as President Ange-Felix Patasse, whose Libyan-backed forces struggled to put down a coup attempt in May and an insurgency last month, was in Sudan for talks on how to restore peace to his impoverished country.

Patasse recently recruited young members of a pro-government militia to fight troops loyal to sacked army chief Francois Bozize, who fled north to Chad after his forces were driven from Bangui in November.

``They (the recruits) left on Saturday toward the northern border with Chad. They fell in an ambush, there are people dead and wounded,'' one relative told Reuters.

More than a hundred people, some weeping and wailing, gathered at the entrance of Bangui's Community Hospital and the morgue to seek information about their loved ones.

There was no official confirmation of the new fighting. Diplomats said last week that Bozize's forces retreated to Chad after clashing with Patasse's loyalists.

Patasse arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Sunday for a summit with the presidents of Chad and Zambia and a senior minister from Libya -- whose troops came to Patasse's aid in both crises this year.

The Central African Republic, which is slightly larger than the Iberian peninsula and has a per capita income of just $290 despite its diamond wealth, has had a turbulent history since independence from France in 1960.

Patasse has been in power since 1993 but has had to repel a series of army mutinies and coup attempts since 1996.

In early November, Bozize was called before an inquiry into the failed May coup attempt but the general, who had been fired without explanation in October, took refuge in a barracks near the capital until he was chased out of town.

Actualité Centrafrique - Dossier 8