Fears of violent power struggle as rebels close in on Chad capital
Rebels in Chad yesterday threatened to depose the son of the country’s slain president after he was named interim leader of the strategic central African nation, raising the spectre of a violent power struggle.
It was not certain how close the rebel column was to N’Djamena, the capital city of 1 million people, or whether the military would remain loyal to Mahamat Idriss Deby following his father’s sudden death after three decades in power.
The rebel group that the military blamed for President Idriss Deby Itno’s killing said yesterday in a statement that they were giving his family until midnight to bury him. The fighters gave no indication of their positions after saying the day before that they were “heading toward N’Djamena at this very moment”.
The group known as the Front for Change and Concord in Chad again decried Deby’s son assuming the presidency. The 37-year-old Army commander was chosen to lead an 18-month transition instead of following constitutional protocol after his father’s death.
“We call on all justice-loving Chadians to join us in this struggle to stop our dear republic from becoming a monarchy,” the statement said.
In a bid to further legitimise Mahamat Idriss Deby’s position, the National Assembly president said yesterday that he supported the decision to bypass him and appoint the military council to lead the transition instead. The statement came amid an outcry from opposition figures who said the constitution’s rules for presidential succession had not been followed.
The rebel group’s claim of advancing on the capital could not be independently verified, but it created panic in N’Djamena, which another rebel group attacked back in 2008 before being repelled by government forces.
The ruling Transitional Military Council also warned that the fight was not yet over for control of Chad.
“The security situation remains highly serious given the persistence and magnitude of the terrorist threat,” the council’s vice president, Djimadoum Tiraina, said, adding that the military must now “prevent the country from sinking into chaos and anarchy”.
Yet even as fears mounted that the rebels could reach N’Djamena, plans moved ahead for a state funeral tomorrow for Deby, a key ally of former coloniser France. French President Emmanuel Macron is among the heads of state expected to attend, French officials confirmed.
The rebels, however, urged invited state leaders yesterday “to postpone the invitation for security reasons.”
During Deby’s rule, France established its regional military base in Chad to combat extremist violence in Africa. Deby also contributed invaluable troops to the UN peacekeeping mission in northern Mali that has sought to stabilise the country after France’s 2013 military intervention to dislodge Islamic extremists from power in the north.
Human rights groups say those contributions helped to shield Deby from international criticism as his government became increasingly autocratic.
The rebels now aiming for the capital are led by Mahamat Mahadi Ali, a longtime Deby opponent who formed the shadowy group known by its French acronym, Fact, in 2016.
Until earlier this month, Fact forces had been based in southern Libya, where they claimed neutrality in the Libyan conflict. However, a recent UN experts’ report found Fact forces in southern Libya were guarding Libyan military bases under the command of Field Marshall Khalifa Hifter.