RE: Chad20 Apr 2021 22:56
ABC News - PARIS -- Newly reelected president of Chad, Marshal Idriss Déby Itno, died Tuesday on the battlefield in clashes with rebels, according to the Chadian army.
"Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces, Idriss Déby Itno has just given his last breath while defending the territorial integrity on the battlefield. It is with deep bitterness that we announce to the Chadian people the death, this Tuesday, April 20, 2021, of Marshal of Chad ... as a result of his injuries to the forehead," Chad army spokesman, General Azem Bermandoa Agouna, said during a statement on Tchad TV.
One of Africa's longest-ruling leaders, Déby was injured on the front line in the Kanem region where rebel groups took control of the territory, Chad's presidential office told ABC News.
Hope the IRR team are safe.
Déby's death comes amid the nation's army's battles with rebel group Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT). The rebels entered Chad through Libya on the country's election day, April 11, a FACT representative told ABC News.
The U.S. State Department raised Chad's travel advisory to a red-alert Level 4 Saturday, urging all Americans not to travel to the country "due to civil unrest and armed violence" and listing COVID-19 as a reason to "reconsider" travel to Chad.
On Saturday, Chadian government spokesperson Chérif Mahamat Zene said that rebels advancing on N'Djamena -- Chad's capitol city -- had been defeated, but that fighting had later resumed.