Chad: vagueness surrounds the circumstances of Idriss Déby's death

Former Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno.

AP - Andrew Harnik

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

How did the Marshal of Chad die?

According to the army, Idriss Déby died with arms in hand while trying to push back the rebels of the Front for alternation and concord in Chad.

A hypothesis confirmed by our colleagues from

Jeune Afrique

.

But the versions on the exact circumstances differ.

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More than 24 hours after the

shocking

announcement

in Chad

, there is no official and detailed version of Idriss Déby's death.

The exact circumstances of this death are still unclear.

The army says he died from an injury contracted in northern Kanem, while facing the rebels of the Fact, but it does not give more details.

From there, several versions are opposed.

This is particularly the case concerning the date of Idriss Déby's death.

In a long story

published on Tuesday,

Jeune Afrique

wrote that the marshal was allegedly hit on Sunday afternoon while fighting a column of rebels not far from his son.

He would then have died in the evening.

Our information does not confirm this chronology.

Fighting did indeed take place on Sunday during the day, but

Mahamat Idriss Déby, the marshal's son

, only took part in the evening.

Other sources, more rare, explain that Idriss Déby's last fight took place the next day, Monday.

This is notably what the Fact, the rebels directly involved in the conflict, claim.

What injuries?

However, it remains very difficult to know who was really present at the time of the marshal's death, so confused was the situation on the ground.

Information is also lacking on the injuries that caused Idriss Déby's death.

Jeune Afrique

mentions a gunshot wound to the chest that allegedly damaged the kidney.

Information that has not yet been formally verified.

Among all the hypotheses heard, the most credible, although still incomplete, therefore remains that of a death in combat or in any case on a field of operation.

Obviously other rumors have been circulating since Tuesday, but no source or speech has yet come to support them.

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  • Chad

  • Idriss Deby Itno

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