Chad's President Idriss Deby, who has ruled the country for over 30 years and who recently established official relations with Israel, has died of injuries suffered on the frontline, where he visited soldiers fighting against rebels, spokesman Azem Bermendao Agouna said Tuesday in a broadcast on state television.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
His son, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, has been named interim president by a transitional council of military officers, Bermendao said.
Deby, 68, came to power in a rebellion in 1990 and was one of Africa's longest-ruling leaders, surviving numerous coup attempts and rebellions.
His death was announced the day after he was declared the winner of a presidential election that would have given him a sixth term in office. Most of the opposition, which had long complained of his repressive rule, boycotted the vote.
Deby, who often joined soldiers on the battlefront in his military fatigues, visited troops on the frontline on Monday after rebels based across the northern frontier in Libya advanced hundreds of kilometers south toward the capital N'Djamena.
"Marshal Idriss Deby Itno, as he did each time that the institutions of the republic were gravely threatened, took control of operations during the heroic combat led against the terrorist from Libya. He was wounded during the fighting and died once repatriated to N'Djamena," Bermendao said.
The government and National Assembly have been dissolved, and a nationwide curfew was imposed from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m.
"The National Council of Transition reassures the Chadian people that all measures have been taken to guarantee peace, security, and the republican order," Bermendao said.
Western countries have seen Deby as an ally in the fight against Islamist extremist groups, including Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin and groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State in the Sahel.
His death is a blow to former colonial power France, which had based its Sahel counter-terrorism operations in N'Djamena. Chad had announced in February the deployment of 1,200 troops to complement 5,100 French soldiers in the area.
Deby visited Israel in 2018 to start a process of reviving ties that the African country severed in 1972. In 2020, a Chadian delegation and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed "appointing ambassadors and opening diplomatic missions, including (by Chad) in Jerusalem," a statement by the Prime Minister's Office said.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
