Idriss Déby Itno

Who is Idriss Déby Itno?

Idriss Déby Itno was born on 18 June 1952 in the village of Berdoba in northern Chad, a member of the Bidayat clan of the Zaghawa ethnic group. After Quranic schooling and further education in Fada and Abéché, he trained as a military officer and then as a pilot in France, returning to Chad in 1976. He became a senior military commander under President Hissène Habré during the 1980s and played a key role in the "Toyota War" that drove Libyan forces from northern Chad in 1987. After falling out with Habré and being forced into exile, he led an armed rebellion from Sudan and overthrew Habré in a December 1990 coup, becoming President of Chad in early 1991. He went on to rule for more than three decades, formally winning multiple elections while surviving numerous rebellions and coup attempts, and positioning Chad as a key military partner of France and the United States in regional counter-terrorism operations against groups such as Boko Haram. In April 2021, shortly after being declared the winner of another presidential election, Déby was killed while visiting Chadian troops fighting rebel forces near the northern front, becoming Chad's longest-serving president and one of the few sitting African heads of state to die on an active battlefield.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Idriss Deby" · Africanews, "Who was Chadian military powerhouse Idriss Deby Itno?" (20 April 2021) · Reuters, "Chad president Deby dies of wounds sustained on the battlefield, army says" (20 April 2021)