By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno, who was reelected for a sixth term in office on April 11, is dead. He was killed a day after the provisional results declaring him winner was announced on Monday.
The Chadian army announced his death on Tuesday. Though details of the circumstances that led to his death still remain sketchy, the army authorities said he died from injuries sustained during a clash with rebel forces.
The Chadian army has been battling rebel forces, who launched an assault on the capital, N’Djamena.
The army statement said the President who has been in power for 30 years, died on April 20, 2021 from injuries sustained while commanding his army in fighting against rebels in the north over the weekend.
A spokesman for the military broke the news on state television.
Derby, 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 was re-elected to a sixth term with 79.32 percent of the votes cast in the April 11 election, according to provisional results from the electoral commission on Monday.
Former prime minister Albert Pahimi Padacke came in second with just 10.32 percent in the presidential vote, while turnout was 64.81 percent, Independent National Electoral Commission chairman Kodi Mahamat Bam said.
The first female presidential candidate in Chad’s history, Lydie Beassemda, came third with 3.16 percent.
The provisional results still need to be approved by the Supreme Court after it studies potential legal appeals.
After more than three decades in power, the victory of 68-year-old Deby was never in serious doubt after a campaign in which he faced a divided opposition lacking a major rival candidate and demonstrations were banned or dispersed.
Officially nine candidates were running against Deby, but three withdrew and called for the vote to be boycotted — though the Supreme Court kept their names on the ballots.
Deby campaigned on a promise of peace and security in a region that has been rocked by jihadist insurgencies.