News cookies
Idriss Déby: how RFI investigated the death of the Chadian president
Audio 11:06
Chadian soldiers carry the remains of President Idriss Déby Itno.
April 23, 2021. © REUTERS - POOL
By: Alexandra Cagnard Follow
2 mins
On April 20, 2021, the spokesperson for the Chadian army announced on state television the death of President Idriss Déby Itno.
Died while commanding his men in battles against rebels in the north of the country.
What really happened that day?
A year later, in an attempt to answer the question, five RFI journalists investigated and published a series of articles in four parts.
François Mazet, one of the co-authors, responds to Witnesses news.
Advertisement
In this episode of
Witnesses d'actu
,
François Mazet
, begins by recalling the political situation in Chad at the time of the death of Idriss Déby: “
On April 11, Idriss Déby had just won a 6th term as president.
That same day, the Fact, the front for alternation and harmony in Chad announced that it had launched an offensive from neighboring Libya.
The objective of these rebels was to cross the country and overthrow power
”.
A few days later, seeing that the rebels were progressing faster than expected, Idriss Déby decided to go to the front with his troops.
The clash took place in Kanem province in western Chad.
The Chadian president dies of his injuries.
The circumstances of his death will very quickly be the subject of rumours, explains François: "
The fact that Idriss Déby had power for thirty years has had the effect of discrediting the official word.
Very quickly, some said that all this was not true, that he had not died in combat, evoking the possibility of a settling of scores within his own camp.
Today, according to what we have learned during this investigation, this theory seems to have been ruled out, just like that of a conspiracy, yet very relayed within the Chadian population
”.
To try to find out more, we pooled our forces, continues François: “
I was in N'Djamena to meet in particular soldiers, relatives of Idriss Déby but also opponents and researchers.
Florence Morice went twice to Doha in Qatar, where a pre-dialogue with the rebel groups has been held for more than a month.
She also spoke with Chadian intelligence officials.
Franck Alexandre, meanwhile, spoke with the boss of the Barkhane force at the time of the events.
Esdras Ndikumana, and Madjiasra Nako also conducted several interviews.
We then cross-checked the information that went in the same direction and put into perspective the more divergent testimonies
”.
►The result of this work can be found here: Death of Idriss Déby: investigation of the great enigma
Subscribe to "News Witnesses"
Witnesses to the news
is available for listening on all podcast platforms:
Apple Podcasts
,
Spotify
,
Deezer
,
Podcast Addict
,
Google Podcasts
,
TuneIn
or any other application using the
RSS feed
.
If you like this podcast, give it 5 stars and post a comment on these applications so that it is visible and therefore even more listened to.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
Chad
Idriss Déby Itno
Africa
Our guests
Francois Mazet