Breaking: Chad’s President Idriss Deby has died, army says

Chad’s President Idriss Déby has died on the front lines of a fight against northern rebels, an army spokesman said on Tuesday.

In a statement read out on State Television, army spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna said, Deby “has just breathed his last defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield” over the weekend.

The president was on his way to the front lines to join troops battling “terrorists”, Reuters reports. Rebels based in Libya had “attacked a border post on Monday and advanced hundreds of kilometers south across the desert,” the report added.

Deby’s death comes a day after he was declared the winner of a sixth term in office. The government and parliament have been dissolved, BBC reports, adding that a military council will govern for the next 18 months.

68-year-old Deby took power in a rebellion against President Hissène Habré in December 1990. He has since survived various rebellions against his rule and has won elections in 1996 and 2001. He removed presidential term limits and won the 2006, 2011, and 2016 elections. In 2018, he booked 15 more years to his 28 years in power in constitutional reform. The move was protested by any means that a suppressed people could. Yet, Deby prevailed, as he’s always done so thanks to support from France.

He was recently awarded the honorary title of Field Marshal for his efforts against Islamic terrorism in West Africa.

More to follow…