Idriss Deby: President Of Medan Tempur, Alumi Muammar Gaddafi World Revolution Center

JAKARTA - Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno was killed while visiting troops on the front lines of the battle against northern rebels, said a military spokesman on Tuesday April 20, a day after Deby was declared the winner of the Chadian presidential election on April 11.

Born on June 18, 1952 in N'Djamena, French Equatorial Africa or now Chad, Deby comes from the Bidayat clan, the Zaghawa ethnic group.

Idriss Deby joined the army in the 1970s when Chad was experiencing a protracted civil war. He received military training in France and returned to Chad in 1978, lending his support to President Hissène Habré and eventually becoming commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Launching Reuters, Deby came to power, after overthrowing President Hissene Habre in December 1990. Deby led rebel soldiers who carried out attacks for three weeks from the area of Sudah. Since then he has been in power in Chad.

Referring to Foreignpolicy.com, Deby is called a graduate of the Muammar Gaddafi World Revolution Center near Benghazi, Libya along with a number of other figures, such as Blaise Compaore from Burkina Faso to Laurent Kabila from Congo.

Various rebellions and coups succeeded in overcoming him, so he managed to win the 1996, 2001, 2011, 2016 and most recently 2021 elections. The word 'Itno' was added to the back of his name in 2006.

Ruling for more than 30 years, Deby, a key Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants in Africa, has been killed on the front lines against rebels in the north.

Western countries rely on Deby as an ally in the fight against Islamist militant groups, including Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin and groups linked to al Qaeda and ISIS in the Sahel.

"Deby's son, Mahamat Kaka, was appointed interim president by a transitional council of military officers, said Chadian Army spokesman Azem Bermendao Agouna in a broadcast on state television.

His death was announced a day after he was declared the winner of a presidential election that would give him a sixth term in office with a total of 79 percent of the vote.

Deby, who often joins the army on the battlefield in his military uniform, visited frontline troops on Monday April 20 after rebels based on Libya's northern border advanced hundreds of kilometers south toward the capital N'Djamena.

"Marshal Idriss Deby Itno, as he does whenever republican institutions are threatened, takes control of the operation during the heroic battle led against terrorists from Libya. He was injured during the fighting and died after being repatriated to N'Djamena," Bermendao said.

"The National Transitional Council assures the people of Chad that all measures have been taken to ensure the peace, security and order of the republic," he added.