Idriss Deby; A Soldier, Came to Rule Chad Through Coup, Killed 30 Years Later

After nearly 3 decades of power, Chadian President Idriss Deby was killed on April 20, 2021, after he was wounded in a military operation carried out by units of the Chadian army against armed rebels in the Kanem province in the north of the country. 

Chad's state television reported that President Deby, 68, was personally leading the operation that the Chadian army carried out four days ago against the Front For Change and Concord FRONT ", a rebel movement on the Chad-Libyan border in the north of the country. 

Questions surround the President’s sudden death, as many doubt that he was killed by close associates. Al-Jazeera quoted Jonathan Ove Ansa, editor-in-chief of Africa Briefing magazine, as saying that what is happening in Chad is a military coup, and that it is not excluded that Deby was killed by one of his generals. 

He believed that the army's announcement of his death during the battles with the armed movements was not logical, after the authorities said that they had succeeded in repelling the rebels from the capital, N'Djamena.

Monarchy

According to the constitution, the Speaker of Parliament temporarily takes the president’s chair, in case of death or inability to perform the mission. However, a military coup was carried out by the army, in order to “ensure the country’s unity and stability.” 

« A military council was formed under the leadership of Deby's son » General Mohamed Kaka, who leads the presidential guard, said. « Immediately, it announced the Power Transition Charter. » he added.

The army announced that it had taken a series of measures, including the Transitional Military Council's management of the country's affairs for a period of 18 months, announcing an upcoming charter on dissolving parliament and the government, and working to form a government and transitional institutions that would oversee the organization of elections.

The council also announced a curfew in the country between 6 pm and 5 am, and the closure of all land and sea ports of the country until further notice, and at the same time called "all Chadians at home and abroad to dialogue."

The rebel forces in Chad confirmed that they are continuing their way to the capital, N'Djamena, hours after the army announced the killing of Deby, and the formation of a military council to lead the country in a transitional period.

The rebels promised to reach N'Djamena, and  they completely rejected" the formation of the Transitional Military Council headed by Idriss Deby's son. 

"We totally reject the transitional phase and intend to continue the offensive," said Kingabi Ogozimi de Tabol, a spokesman for the Front for Change and Concord (The FACT).

He added, "Chad is not ruled by a monarchy, there should be no transfer of power from father to son. Our forces are on their way to N'Djamena, but we will leave 15 to 28 hours for Deby's children, to bury their father according to custom."

The opposition Action and Justice Group said that Chad is not a kingdom and power cannot be transferred between members of the ruling family, adding that the "National Resistance Forces" are heading at this moment towards the capital.

Thirty Years

The confrontations between the Chadian army and the rebels had created tension in recent days, as about 300 rebels were killed and about 150 others captured, prompting the US Embassy in Chad to warn against these moves that were crawling towards the capital, N'Djamena, and called on its non-essential diplomats to leave the country, saying that these groups are close to the capital.

On April 19, 2021, the Chadian media announced that Deby had won the presidency, after obtaining about 79.3 percent of the vote, in the presidential vote that took place on April 11, 2021.

According to his election campaign spokesman, Mohamed Zain Bada, Deby was supposed to address the citizens after the announcement of the first results, but he went to the battlefront where the army forces are fighting against the insurgents of the rebel "The FACT ‘’ after crossing, on 11 April 2021, the country's borders coming from its northern neighbor Libya.

This is the sixth time that Deby has won the elections since he took power in 1990, following a rebellion he led against President Hissene Habre in December 1990, when he was an army officer.

The first term of Deby's rule was in December 1990, then he was elected in July 1996, and re-elected in May 2001, then May 2006, then April 2011 and again on 10 April 2016, then in April 20, 2021.

Deby is the fourth president of Chad since its independence from France in 1960. He succeeded in maintaining the presidency, and surrounded himself by officials from the "Zaghawa" ethnicity to which he belongs, who hold key positions in the leadership of the army, and formed a political alliance that supports his political project.

 

France's Ally

During his years in power, Deby enjoyed absolute support from France, since he came to power in the nineties of the last century, and during the past decades, Deby was able to concentrate power in his hand with French support, and he also amended the constitution so that he could nominate himself for the presidency several times.

 The reason behind French support , the London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat quoted Chadian researcher Kimla Manatuma, at the University of Paris, that Deby understood from the very beginning  that Chad occupies a strategic and central position in relation to French interests. On the one hand, it can resist the Libyan expansion, as it is able to prevent The Darfur war extending to the West.

The newspaper adds about the Chadian researcher that "Chad is qualified to play an active role in containing the extremist organization (Boko Haram) militants east of the Niger River, northern Cameroon, and in Nigeria. Deby has proven his efficiency in the war in the strategic coastal region of France, and proved that he is able to play useful roles for Paris. In all these roles, he is a trump card in the hands of France." 

Deby had provided very important and valuable assistance to France when he sent his forces to save Mali, and its capital, Bamako, from the control of the Islamic State and other extremist groups in early 2013, according to the newspaper.

The Coup Leader

Idriss Deby was born on May 18, 1952, in the Fada region of northern Chad, in a Muslim family.

Idris studied in his youth at a Quranic school (al-Kettab), then moved to study in a French school in his town of Fada, and then at the Arab-French school in the city of Abéché (center), then he obtained a bachelor's degree in science from Lycée Jacques Modena in the Chadian city of Yongor.

He joined the Officers' School in the capital, N'Djamena, and soon traveled to France to receive training in military aviation, then returned to Chad at the end of the seventies of the last century, holding a professional certificate in aviation. 

Deby rose in his military positions until he became the commander-in-chief of the army, then was appointed a military advisor to the presidency during the era of President Hussein Habre, and participated in several battles against Chadian rebels and against the Libyan forces on the border between the two countries in 1987. 

The good relationship between Deby and the President of the Republic, Hussein Habre, did not last. A dispute quickly emerged between the two men in early April 1989, prompting Habre to accuse Deby of preparing a coup with other officers, which pushed Idriss Deby to flee to Darfur and then to Libya.

In that period, Gaddafi offered military assistance to Deby to hold power in exchange for the release of Libyan prisoners, whom Habre has been holding in his prisons since the outbreak of the war in 1987 between the two countries.

Indeed, Deby attended a coup by forming what was called the "National Salvation Movement" at the time, and received support from Sudan and Libya, which eventually resulted in the implementation of a successful coup against the President of the Republic, Hussein Habre.

Habre was involved in carrying out large-scale assassinations, and Human Rights Watch spoke of violations against humanity, including killings of political opponents, systematic torture and arbitrary arrests, and ethnic cleansing, for which he was convicted by the International Court of Justice later in 2016.