Idriss Déby

Biography

Idriss Déby was born in 1952 in northern Chad, into the Bidayat clan of the Zaghawa. After schooling in Fada and Abéché he entered the officers' school in N'Djamena and trained as a pilot in France, returning in 1976. He tied his career to Hissène Habré, who made him commander-in-chief of the army in 1983, a year after taking power.

Déby routed pro-Libyan forces in eastern Chad in 1984, attended the École de Guerre in Paris, and as the president's chief military adviser led the 1987 Toyota War campaign that drove Libyan forces from Chad, including a raid on the Maaten al-Sarra air base inside Libya. Accused by Habré of plotting a coup in 1989, he fled to Libya and then Sudan, founded the Patriotic Salvation Movement, and on 1 December 1990 his forces entered N'Djamena unopposed.

Confirmed as president in February 1991, he legalised political parties in 1993 and won Chad's first multiparty presidential election in 1996, followed by victories in 2001, 2006 (after a referendum removed term limits), 2011, 2016 and 2021. His rule saw oil exports begin through the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, repeated rebellions including rebel assaults on the capital in 2006 and 2008, and widespread corruption and authoritarian practice. He sent troops to Mali and against Boko Haram, and chaired the African Union in 2016.

The National Assembly named him Marshal of Chad in 2020. After his re-election in April 2021 he went to command troops fighting rebels of the Front for Change and Concord in Chad, was wounded and died on 20 April 2021. A military council led by his son Mahamat took power.