A military council in Chad led by Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, son of the late President Idriss Déby, will govern the country for the next 18 months following the death of the Chadian leader on Tuesday.
A statement released by the Chadian Army authorities said, Déby Itno, a 37-year-old four-star general, will lead the council but “free and democratic” elections will be held once the transition period is over.
Chad’s president died of injuries he sustained following clashes with rebels in the north of the country at the weekend, the army has said. The announcement came a day after provisional election results projected he would win a sixth term in office. The government and parliament have been dissolved. A curfew has also been imposed and the borders have been shut. Déby, 68, spent more than three decades in power and was one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.
An army officer by training, he came to power in 1990 through an armed uprising. He was a long-time ally of France and other Western powers in the battle against jihadist groups in the Sahel region of Africa. Déby “breathed his last defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield”, an army general said on state television on Tuesday.
