Magdy Mustafa

Fate did not allow Chadian President Idriss Deby to celebrate his victory in a sixth presidential term in his country, as death suddenly rushed to him, and the Chadian army announced in urgent news on Tuesday afternoon that he had been killed "due to an injury on the battlefront" in the north of the country.

The celebrations and congratulations expected to win were replaced by mourning and telegrams of condolences, and a torrent of sweeping questions and concerns about the future of the country after the sudden departure of its president, who had not known anyone else for 30 consecutive years, and did not appoint a deputy to replace him upon his departure, as a constitutional amendment canceled this position.

The news of Déby's death comes less than 24 hours after the electoral commission in Chad announced his victory in the first round in the presidential elections that took place in Chad on April 11th, with 79.32% of the vote.

Military upbringing

Idriss Déby was born on June 18, 1952, in Badada (eastern Chad), and he is the son of a shepherd from the Zaghawa ethnic group that is distributed over Chad and Sudan, and they have a large presence in western Sudan, especially in Darfur, and they live in the areas bordering the Sudanese-Chadian border.

This tribal affiliation explains the conflicts outside the borders of Chad, especially the conflict in the Darfur region (western Sudan), where family and tribal ties between Déby and the leaders of the “Justice and Equality Movement” in the region pushed to support the Darfur rebels, and then a conflict broke out between Chad and Sudan, and pushed the ousted Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir to support armed opposition movements in northern Chad, which belong to the Tabu tribes.

Deby joined the Chadian army early, and was trained militarily by French officers, becoming a commander of a military helicopter at the end of the seventies, then he received training at the military school in Paris before returning to Chad in 1978.

Déby participated in a rebellion against the rule of former president Cocooni Wadi in 1982, and showed his support for the rule of his successor, President Hussein Habré (1982-1990). Déby played a role in fighting the forces of the former Libyan president, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in the early 1980s, when France stood by Hussein Habré, I helped him defeat Gaddafi's forces, after which Déby was appointed commander of the Northern Military Region.

He assumed the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in Chad, but soon fled to Sudan after being accused of plotting a coup against the rule of President Hossein Habré in 1989.

Deby sought to get rid of Habre, and was able to seize power in 1990, after he led an army of rebels who launched a three-week offensive from the neighboring Sudanese region of Darfur, and the "national rescue movement" that Deby led at that time succeeded in forcing Habre to step down. He left Chad and left Chad for exile, after Habre's failure to receive help from France, which seemed to have idle hands, which led to Habre's defeat, and Déby's accession to power.

Déby embodied a unique exceptional situation among the presidents of the country;

The period that he spent as president - about 31 years - is equivalent to the periods spent by the six presidents who preceded him combined, since Chad gained its independence from France in 1960.

Deby declared himself president of the country in 1991, and he managed to win the country's first presidential elections in 1996, after establishing a system aimed at pluralism and drafting a constitution for the country, and he was re-elected president in 2001, and he made constitutional amendments in 2005 that gave him the opportunity to run for a third presidential term.

And he swept the presidential elections in 2006, 2011 and 2016, and did not care about the main opposition withdrawing its participation in the 2006 and 2011 elections, angry at the change of the constitution that enabled the former soldier to renew his mandate in succession.

Déby worked on a new constitution for Chad in 2018.

It allows him to remain in power until 2033, and establish a presidential system without a prime minister or vice president.

The only "marshal"

Déby was the only Chadian president to attain the military rank of Marshal (Marshal) in 2020, and he is the second African president to obtain that rank (which is the highest military ranks that are not granted except in times of war) after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, as the transitional president granted it to him. Mansour in 2014 by a presidential decision.

In June, Idriss Déby was promoted to the rank of "Marshal", and a 6-page presidential decree was issued specifying the details of the clothes he would wear, whether it was a military uniform or the outfit he would wear at official and popular events.

The decree specified the details of the "Marshallian wand", and stated that "it must be in conformity with the imperial model, and be adorned with 23 golden stars."

Ally of France

Déby benefited from the mistakes of his predecessors, realizing the importance of his country's strategic position to Western and French interests in particular.

Chad has historically been the crossroads of civilizations, migrations and cultural exchange between the north and south of the continent, and France saw early on that Deby was qualified to play a central role for its interests.

Deby gained a reputation with the West in general and France in particular, as a strong ally of the West in the Sahel region, despite accusations of tyranny and failure to alleviate poverty. Haram "east of the Niger River, northern Cameroon, and Nigeria.

Déby proved his value in the French war in the strategic Sahel region of France, as well as his military competence and his ability to play useful roles, and in all these roles he is a trump card in the hands of France.

Coup attempts

Deby has demonstrated the ability to resist and remain in absolute power, relying on the army's absolute loyalty, and the oil revenues with which it buys the support and protection that Paris provides to him, and France has proven over the past 30 years that its sponsorship of Idriss Deby is without limits and protected him from the coup attempts that he was subjected to.

France used its military forces stationed in Chad in 2006 to block the way to the putschists. It also helped him thwart a second coup attempt in 2008, which was more dangerous than its predecessors. The coup forces were able at that time to extend their control over most neighborhoods of the capital N'Djamena, and reached the gates of the "Pink Palace" a residence Debbie.

In early 2019, France helped President Deby by bombing a convoy of Chadian rebels who entered from Libya to the north-east of the country, as the French force took control of the capital's airport and provided support for Deby, and several groups of French commando forces participated in the fighting alongside the forces loyal to him. .

"We have completely protected a key ally in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel region," French Defense Minister Florence Parly told parliament in 2019.

Where the Chadian army also works within the alliance of the five Sahel countries against the militants targeting Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, and accordingly is an important ally of the French "Barkhane" operation in the region.

Some attribute Déby's strength to the power base that Déby formed from the army, mainly from the forces of the Zaghawa ethnic group to which the president belongs and led by loyalists. Observers also attribute the credit to his long reign to his “political cleverness and prowess as a tactical expert, in contrast to the repeated divisions of his rivals and opponents in A country of many ethnicities and tribal affiliations. "

Doubts and fears

The sudden death of Déby - whose full details have not been announced - raises some concerns in Chad, which is strategically located in the middle of the African continent and the diversity of its population composition, which includes different races and ethnicities;

It caused tribal disputes from time to time.

The most dangerous thing is that they were preludes to military coups

The period preceding Déby's departure witnessed a series of military coups and civil wars since her independence from France.

These fears are reinforced by the fact that the announcement of Déby's death comes one day after the Chadian army announced that it had won a major victory against a rebel group that entered about 10 days ago in the Ziki region in Kanem (north of the country), and confirmed that his forces killed 300 of these rebels and captured 146 others, in Battles took place last Saturday, in which only 5 Chadian soldiers were killed.

And there are those who do not rule out that Déby was killed by one of his generals, and believes that the army’s announcement of his death during the battles with the armed movements is not logical, after the authorities said that they had succeeded in repelling the rebels from the capital, N'Djamena.

Fears increase with the uncertainty in the country, especially since Western countries such as the United States and Britain ordered their non-essential personnel in Chad to leave as rebels approached the capital last Sunday.

And what is proven is that a big void left Déby's departure even with the announcement of the dissolution of the government and parliament, and a military council led by his son, General Mohamed Idris Deby Ento (37 years), took power in the country for a period of 18 months, and it is not known what surprises in the coming days will be hidden that no one can foresee.