- After President Idriss Deby’s death on the battlefield, the rebels have set their sights on the capital of Chad on Wednesday. This threatens to add further confusion to a country vital to international efforts to combat Islamic militants in Africa.
A spokesperson for the Front for Change and Unity in Chad (FACT) said its goal is to bring democracy to the country after years of authoritarian rule by Deby. The rebels who pushed across the country’s far northern border last weekend were now in the Kanem region, nearly 200-300 km north of N’Djamena.
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Schools and some shops were open in the capital on Wednesday, but many people stayed home, and the streets were quiet, a RushHourDaily reporter said. Authorities imposed a night curfew and closed land, and air borders after Debys’ death was announced.
The 68-year-old Deby was killed on the front lines during a fight against FACT fighters on Monday, which shocked the state and worried Western allies who had long viewed him as an ally in the fight against FACT. Islamists.
His son Mahamat Idriss Deby was appointed interim president by a transitional council of military officers. As an army officer who often joined soldiers at the front, he visited troops that had delayed the rebel’s advance in heavy fighting.
FACT took responsibility for the injuries that killed him. He was shot wounded in the village of Mele near the town of Nokou, about 300 kilometers north of N’Djamena, and evacuated to the capital, where he later died, said a FACT spokesman, who asked for anonymity.
Transitional Council Vice President Djimadoum Tirayna said the military wanted to return power to a civilian government and hold free and democratic elections in 18 months. But FACT rejected the military plan, saying they could continue their offensive.
Often there is no dynastic transfer of power in our country,” he said during a press release. The rebels are still in the Kanem region, the spokesman said. They were preparing to move forward in N’Djamena to free “the people” from an undemocratic system, he said, referring to the transfer of power to Debys’ son. Opposition politicians, many of whom boycotted the elections and complained of repression during the pre-election campaign, also implied a return to civil government.
