N'DJAMENA —
Chad's President Idriss Deby has died while visiting troops on the frontline of
a fight against northern rebels, the army said on Tuesday, the day after Deby
was declared the winner of a presidential election.
اضافة اعلان
Deby's son,
Mahamat Kaka, was named interim president by a transitional council of military
officers, spokesman Azem Bermendao Agouna said in a broadcast on state
television.
Deby, 68,
came to power in a rebellion in 1990 and was one of Africa's longest-ruling
leaders. He and his army have been seen as a reliable Western ally in a turbulent
region afflicted by terrorists.
His campaign
said on Monday he was joining troops on the frontline after rebels based across
the northern frontier in Libya advanced hundreds of km south toward the capital
N'Djamena.
The exact
cause of death was not yet clear but a European diplomatic source said he had
been killed.
"A call
to dialogue and peace is launched to all Chadians in the country and abroad in
order to continue to build Chad together," Bermendao said, surrounded by
several officers.
"The
National Council of Transition reassures the Chadian people that all measures
have been taken to guarantee peace, security and the republican order," he
said.
Deby, whose
opponents accused him of repressive rule, pushed through a new constitution in
2018 that would have allowed him to stay in power until 2033 - even as it
re-instated term limits.
He took the
title of "Marshal" last year and said before last week's election:
"I know in advance that I will win, as I have done for the last 30
years."
He was
dealing with mounting public discontent over his management of Chad's oil
wealth and crackdowns on opponents.
But in the
election results announced on Monday, Deby was credited with 79 percent of the
vote, handing him a sixth term in office. Several leading opposition figures
boycotted the poll.
His death is
a blow to France, which had based its Sahel counter-terrorism operations in the
Chadian capital, N'Djamena.
Chad had
announced in February the deployment of 1,200 troops to complement 5,100 French
soldiers in the area. France, the former colonial power, has yet to react
officially.
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