Chad’s President Idriss Déby dies after clashes with rebels, army says

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Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno has died of injuries suffered on the front line in northern Chad, where he had gone to visit soldiers battling rebels during a major incursion into the region, an army spokesman said on Tuesday.

Déby, 68, who had ruled the central Africa nation for more than three decades, had just secured his sixth term in office after being declared the winner of the April 11 presidential election just hours prior to the announcement. The longtime head of state had the support of the US for his efforts battling Islamist extremism and fighting against militant groups like Boko Haram.

There are many questions about the circumstances of Déby’s death. While the military said Déby had taken “the heroic lead in combat operations against terrorists who had come from Libya,” some observers questioned why a head of state was in a conflict zone and how he could have been killed, casting doubt on his protective guard.

Since coming to power in 1990, Déby’s government survived several armed rebellions until this latest insurgency, which is believed to have trained in neighboring Libya before crossing into northern Chad on April 11. The country’s government and parliament have been dissolved, a curfew has been imposed and the borders have been shut. Déby’s son, Mahamat Kaka, has been named interim president.

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