Editorial
Chadians impoverished amid oil wealth
T
he continued story of Africa tragedy is playing out again in Chad and the rest of stand by and watches particularly France and United States of America. Reports has it that the America’s government under President Biden has asked his Embassy to pull out his staff and essential services because of advances of rebels towards the capital and the killing of the President, Idriss Deby. It is claimed that he died on the battlefield after winning a re-election, a story too true to belief knowing the type of person he was and how greedy for power he was. To have risked his life going to encourage the soldiers in the frontline of a raging war with rebels was unexpected of him but it has happened. History playing out itself again, Idriss Deby took power in a coup decades ago and died fighting against rebels trying to oust him. Over 30 years, Deby has been a maverick figure in the Sahel region, with friends in the West but enemies close to home. Deby was confirmed president-elect after securing nearly 80% of the April 11 vote. Instead of celebrating he chooses to go to the battlefield! It would be recalled that late Deby joined the rebel army under former leader-turnedpresident Hissene Habre in 1982, and took command of the army in 1983. He participated in the Toyota War, the last phase of the Chadian-Libyan conflict, where Chadian forces successfully repelled incursions from Muammar Gaddafi’s better equipped army using armed Toyota pickup trucks, assisted by French air support. Support from France would become integral to Deby’s future as kingmaker in Chad and that trend would probably continue as his son is declare interim President against the country’s constitution which would have seen the speaker of the parliament act as President until a fresh elections. Meanwhile, Deby’s son, General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, has taken over as interim leader of a transitional military council, the military said. A legacy of military take overs has resumed again with his son, who is just 38 years old, already a General in the Army backed by the military taking charge and suspending all constitutional means left for the country and France is encouraging it on. Chad’s wealth in natural resources such as oil was supposed to pull the country out of poverty. But Deby’s regime has been accused of using oil revenues to enrich itself and use it to finance
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its fight against rebellions. Yet Deby was seen by Western powers as a stable, predictable figure in an increasing war against jihadist fighters in the Sahel region. He also became a key figure in mediating conflict in neighboring Central African Republic and in the Boko Haram insurgency. Late President Deby allowed France to station troops in Chad, Pastor Amb. Elvis Iruh Editor-in-Chief which served his purposes in defending his regime, and allowed France a base from which it could carry out its counter-terrorism operations. Most notable of these was the French-led Operation Barkhane. In 2014, along with Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, Chad became part of the G5 Sahel joint force to battle jihadist organizations on military and governmental fronts. On the home front, though, Deby faced pressure against his increasingly authoritarian regime. Though he won the 2016 election, reports of voter intimidation further tarnished his image. Chad amended its constitution yet again in 2018, expanding the president’s powers and increasing presidential terms from five to six years. Mismanagement and falling oil prices exacerbated poverty and raised discontent in the landlocked country. Chad is one of the world’s poorest nations, with two thirds of country’s 15.8 million people living in abject poverty. As much as Deby was successful in defending himself and his regime, his enemies were never far off. The 2021 election saw violence, with a rebel group calling itself FACT (the Front for Change and Concord in Chad) launching attacks, and last month they pushed for the capital, N’Djamena. While his supporter say he strove for peace and was a panAfricanist, Deby left power in the same way he took it over 30 years ago: in the heat of battle, with a rebel group fighting a corrupt leadership system. What would the West do now? The world awaits their reaction. Whatever way you try to access the situation, another military takeover with his son in charge is another repeat of history and he would transform himself into a civilian ruler and follow the partner of his late father. We pray history will proof us wrong.
