The devastating war in Sudan and awkward relations with France and the United Arab Emirates are casting a long shadow over Chad this year as its military leader Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno 'Kaka' prepares the ground for elections set for October which he hopes will legitimise his rule...

Then and for years after Chadian officers with or without the endorsement of President Idriss Déby Itno sent convoys of military supplies to Darfur while providing sanctuary for the Zaghawa commanders...

Chad's President Idriss Déby Mahamat Itno 'Kaka' maintains close ties with the UAE which helps the RSF to get military supplies through Amdjarass airport near the border with Sudan...

For the following years they were mostly used to pay for military hardware to fight opponents of the Idriss Déby regime...

He still believes that as the one who built the Zaghawa state in the 1990s under Idriss Déby he is the most legitimate candidate for the presidential position...

This wasn't the case in the 2000s when the strongest advocates of support to Zaghawa in Darfur were in Idriss Déby's inner circle...

The worsening regional crisis triggered by the war in Sudan and Chad's own national reconciliation process dominated the visit of President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno 'Kaka' to Paris last month...

It has been a regular concern of Paris's that Russia might find Chadian rebels to support who could carry out a coup in Ndjamena against President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno 'Kaka' or simply foment discontent against the French military presence in Chad...

Baba Laddé: rebel with a choice of causes The veteran militia leader Mahamat Abdul Kader Umar – nom de guerre Baba Laddé – is back in Central African Republic with the apparent intention of launching a new armed movement against Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno 'Kaka' (AC Vol 52 No 19 Baba Laddé: Robber or Robin Hood...

Surprisingly Burhan and his supporters have been silent on the help the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is providing to the RSF and on Chad's ambiguous stance since President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno 'Kaka' gave a green light to military support being transported from Amdjarass to RSF camps in North Darfur at the same time as senior Chadian military officers including members of the Itno family help train and arm Massalit and other Darfuri militias that want to fight against the RSF...

In Chad Mahamat Déby Itno replaced his father President Idriss Déby Itno who was killed at battle in 2021...

When Chad's transitional President Mahamat Idriss Déby 'Kaka' visited Niamey to mediate on 30 July he was pictured meeting both Tiani and Mody but separately...

The first effort at external mediation fell to Chad's President Mahamat Idriss Déby 'Kaka'...

The battle lines are complicated by France's military presence in Chad to protect the border with Sudan and push back any new insurgency particularly by Arab militias against President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno's government...