At a meeting of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) in January Touadéra got Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno 'Kaka' to tell President Macron that he was prepared to sever his ties with Wagner and even to reconsider standing for a third term of office (AC Vol 63 No 19 The Kremlin's grip tightens)...

Official statements mentioned the need to consolidate frontier security but each Sudanese leader's real purpose was to complain about the other we hear to President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno (aka Mahamat 'Kaka') and win his support...

Many of the efforts to broaden the support base of the regime of President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno (aka Mahamat 'Kaka') during last year's reconciliation exercise included genuine efforts at compromise and democratic reform...

Yet it hopes to win foreign acceptance with elections in 2024 and remain as strong an ally to France and the United States in the war against jihadism as was the regime of Mahamat Kaka's late father Idriss Déby Itno who was killed in April 2021 (AC Vol 62 No 9 Regional leaders pay homage to Déby at funeral summit)...

Malcontents in the Zaghawa elite express their resentment of the Gorane influx by spreading the conspiracy theory that Idriss Déby was not killed on the battlefield by opposition fighters but murdered by Gorane 'traitors' close to him...

REPRESSION LIFTS THE APPEAL OF REVOLT The brutality of the suppression of the 20 October protests raises the spectre of oppositionists joining the plethora of armed groups committed to the overthrow of President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno aka 'Mahamat Kaka'...

The people of southern Chad expected more liberal governance after President Idriss Déby Itno's death not just a dynastic succession and are restive...

They date back to 'Black September' in 1984 when the forces of Chad's former ruler Hissène Habré led then by Idriss Déby Itno launched an assassination campaign against the Sara elite...

Such mutual interests help explain why an armed group such as the Front pour l'Alternance et la Concorde au Tchad (FACT the group officially blamed for killing Idriss Déby) is not considered as dangerous as it was 18 months ago...

France also plans to maintain its base at N'Djamena Chad – where Paris is widely perceived as supporting the Déby clan's continued dynastic rule in the presidency of President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno 'Kaka' despite initial efforts to promote a more inclusive transition...

The October demonstrations demanding greater democracy than the limited 'inclusive' coalition formed by Interim President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno 'Kaka' with former oppositionists were met with extreme violence by security forces and at least 60 people were killed and hundreds wounded (AC Vol 63 No 22 Massacre threatens transition plan)...

Interim President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno 'Kaka' and his 'inclusive' new government which boasts reconciled oppositionists and reformed militia leaders is in deep crisis after security forces many in plain clothes unleashed a wave of deadly violence against demonstrators in N'Djamena and the southern cities of Moundou Sahr Koumra and Doba on 20 October the date when the military had initially pledged to hand power back to the civilians...

Mahamat who seized power after the death of his father President Idriss Déby Itno on the battlefield last April was sworn in again on 17 October this time as head of transitional civilian government...

A drawn-out 'reconciliation process' had been in train since a military junta took over after President Idriss Déby Itno's death with negotiations with politico-military groups in Doha and a national dialogue in N'Djamena with civil society figures and civilian political elites...

Once the arch-enemy and bête noire of the late President Idriss Déby Itno Kebzabo denounced the demonstrators in terms almost identical to those the late president's regime had used against him...

He and President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno 'Kaka' both claimed in their statements that the demonstrations were intended to kick off a popular uprising and that about 1 500 young marchers had previously received military training abroad with this in mind...

The next day Hemeti went to Chad with security officials to meet President Mahamat Idriss Déby...

Paris worries at the lack of progress in the Chad talks hosted by Doha which are supposed to find an arrangement between several armed groups and the regime led by Gen Mahamat Idriss Déby 'Kaka' son of the late ruler Idriss Déby Itno (AC Vol 62 No 9 Death on the front line a coup and then an about turn)...

They wanted to find out what two Chadian armed opposition groups the Front pour l'Alternance et la Concorde au Tchad (FACT) led by Mahamat Mahdi the group that claims responsibility for killing Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno and the Union des Forces de Résistance (UFR) of Timan Erdimi were doing recently in Damara Touadéra's home town (AC Vol 54 No 11 Déby's enemies crowd in & Vol 62 No 9 Death on the front line a coup and then an about turn)...

Some also speculate that Russia could encourage Chadian armed groups such as FACT and UFR to launch operations from Libya and CAR to further weaken the problematic transition in Chad led by Mahamat Idriss Déby (Idriss Déby Itno's son)...