Mahamat Kaka's junta and his allied in the UAE have been accused by General Abdel Fattah al Burhan and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF)-backed regime of fuelling the war in Sudan by supplying arms to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under the command of Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo 'Hemeti'...

Two of Mahamat Kaka's uncles are also related to Sudan's Minister of Finance Jibril Ibrahim who has come out strongly against Hemeti and the RSF...

5 billion to keep Mahamat Kaka's regime on side...

Just how critical the Emirati role is in Chad and Sudan was underlined when one of Abu Dhabi's senior security officials was part of Mahamat Kaka's delegation when he met France's President Emmanuel Macron and officials from the Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure (DGSE) in Paris in October (AC Vol 64 No 23 Presidents Mahamat Kaka and Macron meet on security threats)...

For now Mahamat Kaka's primary concern is holding the ruling elite together behind him and co-opting enough of his domestic opponents ahead of the October elections...

Mahamat Kaka emerged as leader in the wake of his father's death in April 2021 while visiting troops fighting insurgents...

Some in Mahamat Kaka's extended family were also dissatisfied with the division of patronage following his father's death (AC Vol 64 No 4 Kaka falls back on authoritarianism)...

Assisted by Abu Dhabi's funding Mahamat Kaka wants to restructure the government and military ahead of the elections...

Mahamat Kaka's uncle Gen Abakar Choua Allahi runs the Garde Nationale et Nomade du Tchad (GNNT)...

Mahamat Kaka is desperately trying to manage these discontents and rivalries within the security system...

To make this point Mahamat Kaka has to keep Chad at peace with Sudan whichever faction is in control of Darfur...

The delay was caused by Ndjamena's expelling Germany's Ambassador Jan-Christian Gordon Kricke in April after he had criticised Mahamat Kaka's government...

But may be more of a way for opposition to Mahamat Kaka to prove its power among the Zaghawa in Chad...

Yaya Dillo is a nephew of Timan Erdimi who is today a leading Zaghawa opponent of Mahamat Kaka's plan to stand as a presidential candidate...

Seen from Ndjamena today solidarity with Zaghawa in Darfur is understood as supporting the opposition to Mahamat Kaka...

The presence of a senior security official from the United Arab Emirates at some of Mahamat Kaka's meetings in Paris points to Abu Dhabi's growing role in the region and the convergence of its views and those of top French officials...

President Mahamat Kaka landed in Paris on 17 October meeting President Emmanuel Macron on the following day and visited the new Headquarters of the Direction générale de la sécurité extérieur (DGSE) on 19 October before flying back to Ndjamena...

Timane Erdimi a close relative of Mahamat Kaka and a leading figure in the rebellions in the 2000s warned the Chad government about the risks caused by delays in the reconciliation process...

We hear that Mahamat Kaka was unmoved by these questions...

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

SLM leader Minni Arkou Minnawi travelled to Ndjamena and Amdjarass (the village where Idriss Déby was born) to meet Mahamat Kaka in early June...