Wounded in combat: President of Chad died after fighting rebels

YAMENA (AFP) .- Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno, in power for 30 years, died today of injuries received during a military operation against the rebels in the north of the country during the weekend.

The news was confirmed by the spokesman for the army of this African country on public television. “The President of the Republic, Head of State and Head of the Armed Forces, Idriss Déby Itno, has just died defended territorial integrity on the battlefield ”, General Azem Bermandoa Agouna said when reading the government statement.

He also added: “We announce with great bitterness to the Chadian people his death on April 20, 2021.”

Déby, 68 years old military career, came to power in 1960 after a coup and had just been re-elected for a new term, his sixth, of six years, with nearly 80% of the vote, according to partial results released last night. His main opponent and former leader, Albert Pahimi Padacké, took second place with 10% of the vote.

Ministers and senior officials had reported that the head of state had gone to the front this weekend, where the army faced rebels, who launched an offensive from their rear in Libya on the day of the elections, April 11. , in the context of the constant conflicts that Chad has known since its independence in 1960.

Previously, the rebels had reported that Deby had been wounded but the date had not been officially announced. For its part, the Chadian army yesterday reported the death of more than 300 rebels involved in an incursion into the north, and added that five soldiers died in action. At that time, the government assured that the situation was under control.

Now the armed forces announced that a military council headed by his son, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, 37 years old will take the position of the Presidency.

For your profile, Déby had become an ally of the West and in particular of France in the fight against jihadism, according to what was published by the newspaper El País.

Used to wearing his military uniform, Déby personally led his army in the offensives, as happened on February 1, 2008 when he was about to die in Massaguet, 80 kilometers from the capital, when he was fighting the insurgents. In recent days, he had been seen during a military operation against Boko Haram, the Islamic terrorist group operating in northern Nigeria.

Déby, recently promoted to marshal, he focused his electoral campaign on “peace and security” after considering that his government had improved them. But Chad is part of a troubled region. Nestled between Libya, Sudan and the Central African Republic, it is a major factor in the war against jihadists in the Sahel to which it contributes with troops and weapons. In February 2019, Chadian rebels who entered from Libya with the intention of overthrowing Déby were arrested by French troops. In February 2008, an attack reached the gates of the presidential palace, but succeeded in being stopped in extremis.

THE NATION