Chad hosted some of its late President’s best friends on Thursday, ahead of Friday’s funeral for deceased President, Idriss Deby in a move that is in clear defiance of threats by rebels.
How fast things change. Exactly a week ago, the possibilities of this eventuality will be a heavy prediction to make, as Deby swept the country in an election that would see him readying to continue his 30-year-plus reign at the helm.
Alas, death had other plans.
Rebels who allegedly killed the President are threatening to do more if other leaders make it to Deby’s funeral. Even in death, they are still mired in cold threats to those who seek to pay their last respects.
The nation has been plunged into chaos ever since Deby’s demise, with thousands of locals fleeing to neighbouring Cameroon. They don’t know what evil the nights hold and will rather run their way to peace, in places where violence does also reign supreme.
After the announcement of Mahamat Deby “Kaka” as interim President, the rebels have threatened to advance and wreak havoc as they aim to end the dynastic move of power players in the country.
France’s Emmanuel Macron, Guinea’s Alpha Conde and several other African leaders have already arrived Ndjamena ahead of the funeral, as they defied the warnings of the rebel who asked them to stay away for security reasons.
While Deby may be laid to rest, the country he left behind is restive as rebels, opposition parties and some parts of the military have rejected the transitional government to be led by Deby’s son.
Some critics have blamed his relative inexperience while others have pointed fingers to his takeover being a coup.
France, strong allies of Deby in his 30-year Presidency has thrown its weight behind his son, the Interim President as it defended the contravention of the nation’s constitution – a feat never to be tolerated in frnace.
French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian said the need for exceptional security informed the military’s intervention. “Logically, it should be (speaker Haroun) Kabadi … but he refused because of the exceptional security reasons that were needed to ensure the stability of this country,” Le Drian said.
Since the civil war ended in 2005, Chad has enjoyed relative security stability with the most extreme cases seeing the intervention of French and American forces.
The FACT rebelse said its command was bombed on Wednesday in response to the killing of the President, as its leader was targeted. The rebel group, formed in 2016 by displeased military officers is Chad’s biggest problem now. They however claim they are for democracy, and that’s why they’ll keep knocking till the doors are open to all.
As the people keep trooping out of the country in search of safety, and rebels breathing down the neck of the apparatchik, and a President waiting to be laid to rest, Chad’s restiveness is arguably the biggest issue on the continent today.