Idris Déby – BT Afrika

The shock announcement of Idriss Deby’s death on the frontline of a fight against northern rebels comes day after the 68-year-old was proclaimed the winner of a presidential election that had given him a sixth term in office.

Deby’s son, Mahamat Kaka, was named interim president by a transitional council of military officers, spokesman Azem Bermendao Agouna said in a broadcast on state television.

Announcing his death, army said Deby had been commanding his army at the weekend as it battled against rebels who had launched a major incursion into the north of the country on election day.

Deby “has just breathed his last breath defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield,” army spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna said in a statement read out on state television.

A four-star general who is Deby’s son will replace him at the head of a military council, the army said.

“A military council has been set up headed by his son, General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno,” Agouna said.

Some Africans have kicked against Deby’s son as his successor, tagging it “dictatorship” and wondering if the country is still controlled by the western world.

Here are some reactions as gathered on Twitter:

@udoiheanacho wrote: “Africa is cursed! What happened to the President of the National Assembly, according to their constitution? What happened to the Head of Judiciary?

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@ojuroungbe1 “This trend of family political dynasties is rubbish. The automatic succession of sons seem to be the norm in Africa. just like Kabila, Eyadema, Kenyatta & Botswana Khama.”

@cchukudebelu “France has managed 2 father to son dictatorial transitions; 1. Gnassingbe Eyadema to Faure Gnassingbe (Togo). 2. Omar Bongo Ondimba to Ali Bongo Ondimba (Gabon). Now a third – from Idriss Deby to his son (Chad). Congratulations France, “defender of democracy in Africa”!!”

@SatansTweet1″ The west preaches democracy when it suits their interest. It is a pity over 30 years in power and the army still remains the strongest institution in the country. He did not build democratic institutions”

@MrOdanz “After ruling Chad for 31 years, Idris Derby will be succeeded by his son General Mahamat Kaka as acting President. The US and its allies will be okay with the arrangement just like they were okay with Derby’s 31 years Dictatorship. Strategic interest >>> Democracy.”

@AbdijabarBurnt” Africa is wild. You have some countries like Ghana and Kenya that I feel have a strong shot at attaining high HDI levels and strong quality of life indicators. Then you got places like Chad where they’re literally reenacting Game Of Thrones, just in the Sahel. What a continent.”

@MrGeorgBruce “Where is he’s Vice? Doesn’t the country have a vice president? Where is the country’s Parliament? All hail France the “defenders of democracy in Africa.”

@manu_keith “But but they had an election just few weeks ago.. why can’t they go to the ballot. Oops it was an illusion and coronation of a dynasty that’s now sprouting. Uganda, what’s the star level of the president’s son?”

@Vimbai34879137 “Another Kabila type of take over. Another African nation enslaved in a pathetic system of governance #AfricanLivesMatter #AfricaUnite4Change”

@KivaulaK “Ooh does this mean armies in Africa perpetrate dictatorship and nepotism, why his son then.”

@Banky62168357 “Same script every time. Mama Africa weeps Crying face”

@UrRoadMap “So his son is the most qualified in the country? So Chad na family business?”

@Babasridonpapa “So, they served father for 30yrs and they’re planning to serve son for another 30. This country belongs to Deby.”

@MarshalkingNp “When is Africans going to be free from these autocratic systems of government and dictatorships?”

@basic_stunt “When will most of these countries in Africa ever grace an opportunity to lift Thier country forward and out of political slavery they find themselves??? Be wise people”

April 20, 2021

Chad’s President Idriss Déby has died of his injuries following clashes with rebels in the north of the country at the weekend, the army has said.

The announcement came a day after provisional election results projected he would win a sixth term in office.

The government and parliament have been dissolved. A curfew has also been imposed and the borders have been shut.

Mr Déby, 68, spent three decades in power and was one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.

A military council led by Mr Déby’s son, a 37-year-old four star general, will govern for the next 18 months.

Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno will lead the council but “free and democratic” elections will be held once the transition period is over, the army said on Tuesday.

An army officer by training, Mr Déby came to power in 1990 through an armed uprising. He was a long-time ally of France and other Western powers in the battle against jihadist groups in the Sahel region of Africa.

Ahead of the election on 11 April, Mr Déby campaigned on a platform of bringing peace and security to the region.

But there has been growing unhappiness over his government’s management of Chad’s oil resources.

Mr Déby “breathed his last defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield”, an army general said in a statement read out on state TV.

He had gone to the front line, several hundred kilometres north of the capital N’Djamena, at the weekend to visit troops battling rebels belonging to a group calling itself Fact (the Front for Change and Concord in Chad).

Founded in 2016 by disillusioned former army officers, the group accuses President Déby of repression in the run-up to the election.

They built up their base in Libya in the Tibesti mountains, which straddle northern Chad and part of southern Libya.

On election day the group mounted an attack on a border post and gradually advanced on N’Djamena.

The latest clashes began on Saturday. An army general told Reuters news agency that 300 insurgents were killed and 150 were captured. Five government soldiers were killed and 36 were injured, he said. The figures could not immediately be verified.

Some foreign embassies in the capital have urged their staff to leave.

N’Djamena has come under rebel attack before and there was panic in the city on Monday, with parents taking their children home from school, when tanks were deployed along the main roads.