Just re-elected for a sixth term, Idriss Deby Itno, president-marshal of Chad in power for thirty years, died from wounds sustained in battle during a military action against the rebels in the north of the country. «The President of the Republic, Head of State, Supreme Head of the Armed Forces, Idriss Déby Itno, has just taken his last breath to defend territorial integrity on the battlefield. It is with deep bitterness that we announce to the Chadian people the death, on Tuesday 20 April 2021, of the Marshal of Chad ”, announced the army spokesman, General Azem Bermandoa Agouna, in a statement read by the television channel Tchad.
A career soldier, 68, Deby went on Monday to visit the front line between his army and the rebels who launched an offensive from their Libyan bases last Saturday. The North of Chad has been the scene since February 2019 of the rebellion of the Front for the alternation and harmony of Chad (Fact), a group of militiamen that left Libya with the aim of overthrowing the government of Deby. After fierce fighting where at least 300 rebels had been killed, the Chadian army said last Saturday that the insurrection in the Tibesti and Kanem provinces was over but the Fact had claimed the conquest of Kanem.
Deby had just been confirmed as the winner of the presidential elections on 11 April with 79.39% of the votes by the Independent National Electoral Commission (Ceni), which registered a turnout of 64.81%. Former Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padackè finished second with 10.32%, Lydie Beassemda came third with 3.16%, Felix Romadoungar fourth with 1.90%, Brice G. Mbaimou fifth with 1 , 40% and Alladoum D. Baltazar sixth and last, with 1.30% of the votes. The timeless Deby had thus obtained his sixth consecutive term at the helm of the country.
The opposition, which had failed to designate a single candidate, had denounced an unfair electoral campaign, pressure and violations of individual freedoms, reasons that led several candidates to abandon the race. However, Deby’s facade was that of a leader open to dialogue who intended to focus on stability and peace, threatened by a rebel offensive that the authorities still tried to minimize yesterday despite the heavy clashes that occurred in the last three days a few hundred kilometers away. from N’Djamena, the capital.
Deby had taken power in 1990, overthrowing the dictator Hissene Habrè, in a country torn apart by the war against Libya, in which the president claimed to have “established and anchored democracy, peace and security”. Propaganda statements that have failed to erase the long-standing inter-community tensions between shepherds and farmers, unemployment or the threat of the armed group Boko Haram, which in the Lake Chad region is responsible for attacks on civilians and soldiers.
The respect enjoyed by the Chadian president in other African countries was mainly due to his military commitment. In recent years, Deby has been considered the best African ally of the countries of the Sahel region in the fight against terrorism, despite the abuses of which his soldiers are sometimes accused. Deby was also an ally of the West and especially of France, which supported his coup in 1990 and has since intervened several times to save him from threatening insurrections, favoring the maintenance of the status quo in a very unstable region. A country rich in oil, Chad also occupies a strategic position at the crossroads of the Sahel.
Now a military council headed by Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, one of Deby’s sons, will rule for 18 months. The Constitution is suspended and a Transitional Charter will be promulgated.