KHARTOUM, April 1, 2008 (AFP) - The military on Tuesday denied Chadian accusations that Sudan was behind fighting between rebel and government forces and said it was adhering to a peace deal between the two neighbours.

'The Sudanese armed forces operate within Sudan's borders. What's going on is an internal Chadian affair and the Sudanese armed forces have nothing to do with it,' Major Abdul Samie Haj Ahmed told AFP.

The clashes erupted in eastern Chad, which borders Sudan's Darfur region, nearly two months after a failed bid to oust President Idriss Deby Itno.

Chad's defence ministry charged that Sudan had ordered the rebel attack violating the latest peace agreement signed in Dakar on March 13.

'The Sudanese armed forces is committed to all agreements, including the Dakar agreement,' Haj Ahmed insisted.

An alliance of three rebel groups crossed the whole of southern Chad from Sudan early this year and launched an assault on Ndjamena on February 2-3.

They were driven out by Deby's troops with French military intelligence and reconnaissance support, after the head of state was holed up in his palace and an estimated 400 people were killed and thousands fled across the border.

Chad urged mediators of the Dakar accord -- Senegal, Gabon, Congo and Libya -- to 'assume their responsibilities to end this aggression with its unforseeable consequences.'