NDJAMENA, Chad – President Idriss Déby of Chad has died from wounds sustained in clashes between insurgents and government soldiers, the country’s army said on Tuesday shortly after winning its re-election campaign.
An army spokesman appeared on state television to inform the country that Mr. Déby, who ruled Chad for more than three decades, is dead.
“The president of the republic, head of state, chief of the army Idriss Déby Itno is just taking his last breath as he defends the people’s integrity on the battlefield,” the spokesman, in a red beret and army fatigue, said in the broadcast , surrounded by soldiers.
The circumstances surrounding the president’s death were not immediately clear.
Mr. Déby (68) was at the forefront in the north of the country in Central Africa and led the fight against a rebel attack. On the same day as the presidential election, April 11, rebels crossed the northern border from Libya.
He was due to give a victory speech on Monday to celebrate his sixth term in office, but his campaign director said he had rather visited Chadian soldiers fighting rebels arriving in the capital Ndjamena.
“The candidate would like to be here to celebrate it,” campaign director Mahamat Zen Bada was quoted as saying by local news reports. “But at the moment, he is with our brave defense and security forces to fight the terrorists who threaten our territory.”
During the three decades since Mr. After taking power, he faced a number of challenges for his government. Rebels reached the capital in 2006 and 2008. The president’s forces repulsed them with the “discreet” support of France, according to academics targeting Chad.
But in 2019, when Chad asked the French force in the Sahel region for help in dealing with another invasion, Paris was less discreet about the support and forced to launch a series of airstrikes on the rebels.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, told parliament at the time: “France has intervened militarily to prevent a coup.”
Mr. Déby was largely re-elected on the basis of the promise to restore peace and security in a country gripped by years of violence fueled by insurgent groups. Tensions escalated in the days leading up to the latest election, but officials called for calm.
On Monday, security forces and armored vehicles were posted in the streets of Ndjamena, asking residents of the capital to refill their tanks, pick up their children early from school and visit home. Chad’s communications minister called for calm and wrote on Twitter on Monday that the presence of the security personnel was ‘misinterpreted’.
The minister, Chérif Mahamat Zene, added: “There is no special threat to be afraid of.”
Mahamat Adamou reported from Ndjamena, Chad; and Ruth Maclean from Lagos, Nigeria.