By Victoria Ojeme
Tuesday’s death announcement of Idriss Déby, the president of Chad just after news came that he had won a sixth term, by 79.3%, in the latest provisional results on Monday sent shock waves around the world.
According to the army spokesperson, Général Azem Bemrandoua Agouna, the military had been pushed back by insurgents who were advancing on the capital, N’Djamena.
Déby, was expected to give a victory speech after receiving the provisional results, but opted instead to visit Chadian soldiers on the front lines, said his campaign director Mahamat Zen Bada.
Analysts say Déby’s death is a jolt to Western counterterrorism strategy in the Sahel, a region that runs along the Sahara Desert’s southern fringes. With help largely from France and the United States, Déby built Chad’s military into the region’s most formidable fighting force, one that is deployed alongside Western military units in interventions against Islamist militants in Mali, Niger an