Hours after being sworn in to lead the country, following the death of his father, the late President Idriss Deby of Chad, his 37 year old son, Mahamat Deby isn’t wasting time to assert his authority and show that he is in charge.
The younger Deby who is a four star General in the country’s military has reportedly executed some army generals and arrested a few others including his late father’s Aide De Camp.
“The interim Head of State in Chad has already began to show he is in charge. Some army generals have REPORTEDLY been executed, while some including the late father’s ADC are under arrest,” Abu Sidiq, the Special Assistant to the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan on New Media revealed in a post on his official Twitter account.
“Is Derby’s death truly caused by what was reported or something else?” he asked.
Idriss Déby died of injuries following clashes with rebels in the north of the country at the weekend. The announcement of his death came a day after provisional election results projected he would win a sixth term in office
There has been wild speculations that the late President who personally went to the battle field to fight insurgents alongside his country’s troops may have been deliberately killed on the battle field by forces within the military rather than by the rebels he was fighting against.
Not a few are of the opinion the late president’s death may have been a coup, allegedly orchestrated by his son, as there had been a silent battle of wits and power between father and son.
This scenario may well be likened to rumors of how Joseph Kabila of Congo allegedly came to power. The younger Kabila took office ten days after his father, President Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001.
Following the death of President Deby, a military council was constituted led by Mahamat Deby who will govern for the next 18 months.
But experts fault this move saying it is unconstitutional, and that the speaker of parliament should take over when a sitting president dies before organising elections.
The 68 year old Senior Deby spent more than three decades in power and was one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders. An army officer by training, he came to power in 1990 through an armed uprising. He was a long-time ally of France and other Western powers in the battle against jihadist groups in the Sahel region of Africa.