Here is Platforms Africa close up on Idriss Deby’s son and successor, the new leader who should be 37 year-old before the end of this year.
The son of Chad’s President Idriss Deby who on Tuesday died of injuries suffered on the frontline while fighting rebels in the north of the Sahel country, General Mahamat Kaka Deby, has been named interim head of the state, the army spokesman said.
Deby, 68, “has just breathed his last defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield” over the weekend, army spokesman, General Azem Bermandoa Agouna, said in a statement read out on state television.
Deby died 24 hours after winning an election for the sixth term.
Meet the new interim Head of State
General Mahamat Kaka, the son of the deceased Chadian leader, has been named interim head of the state, the army spokesman said.
Meanwhile, here is Platforms Africa close on the new leader who should be 37 before the end of this year.
He previously served as the second in command of the Armed Forces for the Chadian Intervention in Northern Mali (FATIM).
His full name Mahmud ibn Idriss Déby Itno after being born in 1984 (age 36–37).
Until his emergence as the interim head of state, his Army Rank is General-Major.
He has taken part at the fore front of many wars including being Volountiers at the Chadian Civil War (2005–2010), Battle of Am Dam and Northern Mali conflict (2012–present).
Deby’s death
The news of Deby’s death came a day after Deby, who came to power in a rebellion in 1990, won a sixth term, as per provisional results released on Monday.
Deby took 79.3 per cent of the vote in the April 11 presidential election, the results showed.
Deby postponed his victory speech to supporters and instead went to visit Chadian soldiers battling rebels, according to his campaign manager.
The rebel group, Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), which is based across the northern frontier with Libya, attacked a border post on election day and then advanced hundreds of kilometres south.
But it suffered a setback over the weekend.
Chad’s military spokesman Agouna, told the Reuters news agency that army troops killed more than 300 fighters and captured 150 on Saturday in Kanem province, around 300 kilometres from the capital Ndjamena.
