By The Africa Reporter
The SUDDEN DEATH of PRESIDENT IDRISS DéBY OF CHAD has caught Africans by surprise since Idriss His excellence the former PRESIDENT OF CHAD had ruled his country for over six terms. Indeed Idriss was among the longest serving.
- National army of Chad read on national television, the newly re-elected President Idriss Déby has died of wounds he received while commanding his army in battles against rebels in the north.
- Général Azem Bemrandoua Agouna, the military had been pushed back by a column of insurgents who were advancing on the capital, N’Djamena.
- Idriss Déby had won a sixth term in the latest provisional results in on Monday by 79.3%, an announcement broadcast on national radio today has announced his death.
4. Chad opposition leader says several relatives killed in home raid. Yaya Dillo tells reporters his mother and son were among five of his family members killed when security forces raided his home in N’Djamena.
- Déby, was expected to give a victory speech after receiving the provisional results, but opted instead to visit Chadian soldiers on the front lines, said his campaign director Mahamat Zen Bada.
- The soldiers were attacked by militants from the Front pour l’Alternance et la Concorde au Tchad (FACT) (Front for Change and Concord in Chad) who had arrived from their base in Libya and had entered Chadian soil on 11 April. Their stated goal was to rid the country of Déby’s 31 years of power.
- A military council will take over in the interim, under the leadership of General Mahamat Kaka, otherwise known as Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, the son of Idriss.
- His son has been a general in the Chadian army and for many years headed the Direction Générale des Services de Sécurité des Institutions de l’État (DGSSIE) [General Directorate of Security Services for State Institutions], which includes the presidential guard.
- Chad’s military spokesman Agouna told the Reuters news agency that army troops killed more than 300 fighters and captured 150 on Saturday in Kanem province, around 300 kilometres (185 miles) from the capital Ndjamena.
- Five government soldiers were killed and 36 were injured, he said.
- His longest serving colleague is still the newly elected president of east Africa
