The man Deby

Idriss Déby was born 18 June, 1952. He was President of Chad from 1990 until his death yesterday. He was also head of the ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement.

He was of the Bidayat clan of the Zaghawa ethnic group. He came to power after leading a rebellion against President Hissène Habré in December 1990.

Deby survived several coup attempts against his rule.

He became a democratic leader after winning the election in 1996. Déby won again in 2001. Term limits were subsequently removed from the Constitution and he won in 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021.

After finishing school, he entered the Officers’ School in N’Djamena and was later sent to France for training. He returned to Chad in 1976 with a professional pilot certificate and was loyal to the army and President Félix Malloum even after Chad’s central authority crumbled in 1979.

On another return from France in February 1979, the late Deby found that Chad had become a battleground for many armed groups and he chose to pitch his tenth with Hissène Habré, one of the country’s warlords.

A year after Habré became president in 1982, Déby was made commander-in-chief of the army. He helped to conquer pro-Libyan forces in eastern Chad. In 1985, Habré sent him to Paris for training and on his return in 1986, he became chief military adviser to the president.

In April 1989, the increasing power of the Presidential Guard led to a dispute between him and the then president. There were killings, tortures and other forms of abuses and the then president was blamed for them. Déby was forced to flee after he was accused of planning a coup.

He became an ally of Muammar Gaddafi who helped him to seize power through his Patriotic Salvation Movement.

The late Déby was married several times and had at least a dozen children.