Idriss Deby | African News Today

Chad will bury veteran ruler Idriss Deby Itno on Friday as concerns mount over the loss of a lynchpin in the fight against jihadism in the Sahel and uncertainty over the country’s democratic future. President Emmanuel Macron of France, the former colonial power, will attend the ceremony along with a dozen other heads of state and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. The funeral, complete with military honours, is scheduled to take place in the morning in N’Djamena’s main square, La Place de la Nation. The ceremony is to be followed by prayers at the capital’s Grand Mosque, after which Deby is to be laid to rest alongside his father in the village of Amdjarass next to his birthplace Berdoba, in the far east of the desert country near the border with Sudan. Chad, with a well re...

On Tuesday, Chad’s armed forces stunned the nation by announcing that Deby had died from wounds suffered while leading soldiers on the front line against rebels advancing from the north towards the capital, N’Djamena. He was 68. “The president of the republic, head of state, supreme chief of the army, Idriss Deby Itno, just drew his last breath while defending the nation’s integrity on the battlefield,” army spokesman Azem Bermandoa Agouna said in a televised statement while surrounded by men in army fatigues. The exact circumstances of Deby’s death, however, remain unclear. One of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, Deby governed Chad for more than 30 years. Hailing from the Zaghawa ethnic group, he grew up in the northeastern region of Ennedi. He joined the army in the early 19...

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Chad set to bury Idriss Deby Friday

How Former Chad President, Idriss Deby died