A son of Chad’s slain leader Idriss Deby Itno is to take over as president in place of his father, according to a charter released on Wednesday by the presidency.
It said General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, 37, who on Tuesday was named transitional leader as head of a military council following his father’s death, will “occupy the functions of the president of the republic” and also serve as head of the armed forces. On Tuesday the army announced that Deby Sr died from wounds sustained in battle after three decades in power.
The shock news came only the day after the 68-year-old career military man was proclaimed the winner of a presidential election that had given him a sixth term in office.
The army also announced a curfew and border closures after the death, as well as the dissolution of government and the parliament. Deby had ruled Chad with an iron fist since taking power on the back of a coup in 1990 but was a key ally in the West’s anti-jihadist campaign in the troubled Sahel region.
The army said Deby had been commanding his forces at the weekend as they battled rebels who had launched a major incursion into the north of the country on election day, April 11.
Deby “has just breathed his last breath defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield,” army spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna said in a statement read out on state television.
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Source: aljazeera
