Idriss Déby Itno

A month after Mahamat Idriss Déby took the helm in Chad in the wake of his father's death in April huge questions remain over the country's economic fortunes notably over the repayment of mammoth loans from a syndicate led by giant Swiss commodities trader Glencore (AC Vol 62 No 9 Death on the front line a coup and then an about turn)...

His other problem is the demise of Chad's President Idriss Déby Itno...

Abakar Sabone have family connections with Déby's son General Mahamat Idriss Déby now in charge in Ndjamena...

If President Emmanuel Macron needed a reminder of his country's reputation in Africa it came with the fury on the streets of Ndjamena to his ill-phrased remarks at the funeral of President Idriss Déby Itno last month...

Last week protestors burnt French flags at Ndjamena street demonstrations against the country's new military junta led by Déby's son Mahamat Idriss Déby...

Within a week of the killing of President Idriss Déby Itno on the front line in the early hours of 20 April his international allies had twice changed their policy stance...

After the killing of President Déby Chad was so fragile that his erstwhile international allies accepted that his son General Mahamat Idriss Déby 'Kaka' should seize power backed by a junta and suspend the constitution...

One was to allow Haroun Kabadi Parliamentary Speaker and a close friend of Idriss Déby to become the Transitional President and hold elections within three months as set out in the constitution (AC Vol 56 No 10 Winning battles losing wars)...

Abdelkerim Idriss Déby spoke at the meeting and is better educated (having trained at the United States West Point military academy) but he is younger than Mahamat and his aggressive manner risks antagonising foreign allies...

Zakaria Idriss Déby was not considered for the same reasons and because he missed much of the discussions having travelled from Abu Dhabi...

Added to which many of the rebels recruited in Libya are Gorane; the Front pour l'alternative et la concorde au Tchad (FACT) that killed Idriss Déby is mostly made up of Gorane...

General Bichara had helped connect Hemeti with President Idriss Déby Itno building an Arab-Zaghawa alliance in Eastern Chad-Darfur that pressured the Darfur armed groups to sign a peace with Khartoum in October 2020...

General Dicko belongs to a Zaghawa family that provided the chef de canton of Billia (the area Idriss Déby came from) only for the late President to take the title for his brother Timane Déby Itno...

Padacké was the last premier for Idriss Déby before the post was scrapped under the 2018 constitution...

Another case of the dominance of the first family is the appointment of General Mahamat Idriss Déby's new private secretary Idriss Youssouf Boy...

Although the full facts of how President Idriss Déby Itno met his death on 19 April are yet to emerge his successors and regional leaders have tough choices ahead...

French President Emmanuel Macron and his Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian landed in Ndjamena on 22 April going straight into talks with the junta which is led by Déby's son General 'Kaka' Mahamat Idriss Déby...

'I know in advance that I will win as I have done for the last 30 years ' President Idriss Déby Itno told supporters (AC Vol 57 No 10 Missing men mar Déby's win)...

And Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno announced the dispatch of 1 200 Chadian soldiers to the main area of ISGS activity: the 'three frontiers region' where Mali Niger and Burkina converge...

But this is the same efficiency with which the government of President Idriss Déby Itno keeps a lid on the opposition...

Flying in to take personal command of a counter-attack President Idriss Déby Itno said this was the heaviest death toll ever suffered by government forces in a single engagement...

The assembled heads of state – Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger Roch Marc Christian Kaboré of Burkina Faso (currently the G5 Executive President) Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta of Mali Idriss Déby Itno of Chad and Mohamed Cheikh el Ghazouani of Mauritania pleaded for more allies in the fight against terrorism...