Official Website of the Presidency of Chad

His Excellency Idriss Deby Itno
President of the Republic of Chad
Head of State

“Communicating for better direct our development policy”
About His Excellency Idriss Deby Itno, President of the Republic, Head of State.

Déby was born in fada as the son of a herder. After finishing school he entered the Officers’ School in N’Djamena. From there he was sent to France for training, returning to Chad in 1976 with a professional pilot certificate. He remained loyal to the army and to President Félix Malloum until central authority crumbled in 1979. Déby tied his fortunes to those of Hissène Habré, one of the chief Chadian warlords. A year after Habré became President in 1982, in exchange for his loyalty, Déby was made commander-in-chief of the army. He distinguished himself in 1984 by destroying pro-Libyan forces in Eastern Chad. In 1985 Habré removed him from his post and sent him to Paris to follow a course at the École de Guerre; on his return he was made chief military advisor to the Presidency. In 1987 he confronted Libyan forces on the field, adopting tactics that inflicted heavy losses to enemy forces. A rift emerged in 1989 between Habré and Déby over the increasing power of the Presidential Guard. Habré accused Déby of preparing a coup d’état, motivating Déby to flee to Libya.

According to Douglas Farah’s article Harvard for Tyrants, Déby is an alumni member of of Muammar al-Gaddafi’s training center.

He moved to Sudan and formed the Patriotic Salvation Movement, an insurgent group, supported by Libya and Sudan, which started operations against Habré in October 1989. He unleashed a decisive attack on 10 November 1990, and on 2 December Déby’s troops marched unopposed into the capital, N’Djaména.

After three months of provisional government, on 28 February 1991, a charter was approved for Chad with Déby as president. A new constitution was approved by referendum in March 1996, followed by a presidential election in June. Déby received first place in the first round but fell short of a majority; he was then elected president in the second round, held in July, with 69% of the vote. He was re-elected in the May 2001 presidential election, winning in the first round with 63.17% of the vote, according to official results, although international observers noted irregularities in the election process. In June 2005, a successful referendum was held to eliminate a two-term constitutional limit, which enabled Déby to run again in 2006. He was a candidate in the 2006 presidential election, held May 3, which was greeted with an opposition boycott. According to official results Déby won the election with 64.67% of the vote; this was revised downward from the initially announced result of 77.6%. Idriss Deby is currently ranked 16th on Parade Magazine’s 2009 World’s Worst Dictator list.

In October 2006, Chad was placed at the top of the list of the world’s most corrupt nations by Forbes magazine for “what may turn out to be the single most piggish use of philanthropic funds”. Proceeds from a project, funded in part by the World Bank, to build an oil pipeline through Chad and Cameroon were supposed to have been ring-fenced by Déby’s government to assist and feed “the desperately poor people of these nations”. Instead, some $30 million was diverted to buy arms to keep in power the government of President Idriss Déby.

For more information please visit the republic of chad wiki page.

President Of Chad: Lieutenant General Idriss Deby Itno

The country of Chad is a democracy or republic in many ways. Like a democracy, the government is headed by a president. The government in Chad has three branches, also similar to many democracies. The president appoints the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister oversees the three branches of government, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial. The president of Chad serves for a term of five years, and may run for reelection as many times as he likes. In order to win an election a candidate must get at least half of the popular vote. If this doesn’t happen a second race is held between the two top vote getters. The winner of that race is then declared President. However, since it has been made into law, the country of Chad has only had one president. Lieutenant General Idriss Deby Itno came to power in the nineties when he helped overthrow the current government. Since then he has remained in power, whether it be provisionally or by election. He seems eager to remain in power, and many of his detractors have accused him of manipulating the election and the election laws to remain in power.

The democracy of Chad mostly closely resembles that of France in its setup and system of branches.

As President, Deby is head of the Executive branch of government. As such under the law of Chad, he is allowed to name the Prime Minister, and the member of the Cabinet. But President Deby has extended his influence much further than that, installing people he knew and trusted in several key places in government. He oversaw and approved many of the appointments to the courts of Chad.

The republic of Chad is a landlocked country deep in the heart of Africa. Most of its land is desert, the people of Chad are among the poorest in the world. They mostly scrape by as farmers and herders. The chief export of Chad is now crude oil, before that it was cotton. The borders of Chad are often a turbulent place. Trouble in Sudan forced many refugees to seek shelter in Chad, straining its meager resources to the limit. Now with trouble in Libya as well, there can be only grim times ahead.

Chad is a republic, with an elected president leading the government. The elected president serves a term of five years. Elections in Chad are held by popular vote. The person with the majority of votes wins. There is no electoral college in Chad, it is all done by the people themselves. In the rare event that none of the candidates received over fifty percent of the vote, a runoff election is held between the two highest challengers. The current president of Chad is Lieutenant General Idriss Deby Itno. He was elected in 2006. His election and campaign was nothing like the one the American president went through when he got elected. Too many people seem to think all democracies are the same. This is definitely not true, some declared democracies are barely that, and almost none resemble the United States.

President Deby was born in Chad. His father was an animal herder. Deby did well in school. He distinguished himself several times at Officer School and was sent to France for more training. He returned to Chad in 1976 as a certified pilot. He stayed in the army, even after the ruling partywas deposed. He became commander in chief of the army in 1982, under then president Hissene Habre.

Deby proved to be an accomplished general. His forceswere responsible for putting down an uprising backed by the country of Libya in 1984. After that, at the request of Habre, Deby returned to France to take more courses. When he returned to Chad he was appointed chief military adviser.

Deby again clashed with Libyan forces in the year 1987. His innovative tactics led to a decisive victory. But despite success on the battlefield, Deby clashed with Habre repeatedly over policies and power. Habre accused Deby of having too much power through the Presidential Guard, which he commanded. In 1989, Habreaccused Deby of plotting to overthrow the government. Deby immediately left Chad for Libya. From there he moved to Sudan. In Sudan he formed the Patriotic Salvation Movement, which was then an insurgent group that had ties with Sudan and Libya. Withthe support of this group, he began launching attacks against Habre. After some brief and scattered resistance, Deby marched unopposed into the city of N’Djamena, the capital of Chad.

After some time under a provisional government, the country of Chad attempted to reorganize itself as a democracy. Acharter was drawn up, which was approved in 1991. This charter recognized Deby as the president of the country at that time. He won the majority vote, although there were allegations about irregularities in the voting process. None of that was ever proven conclusively however. Deby introduced an important piece of legislation in 1991. The law basically said that a president could be elected to more than two terms, which has been the law in the original charter. The two term rule is favored by many other democratic nations, most notably the United States and Mexico.

Five years later a constitution was drawn up and voted in. At this timeDeby ran for re election. In Chad, the term of the president is five years. Deby won this election in the second round of voting, the run-off. He failed to receive a majority in the first voting, whichprompted the second tally. But with the two term law stricken out of the books, Deby was able to run again for election in 2006.

Deby doesn’t seem to do much better as a president then he did as a general. He has been in trouble pretty much since the beginning. Since he came to power in 1990, at least seven different rebel groups decided to challenge his authority over the country of Chad. His enemiescall him a thug, a tyrant and a dictator. According to one poll he was ranked the sixteenth worst dictator in the world. Chad is ranked the seventh poorest country in the world. Most of itspopulation is forced to subsist on the meager earnings they can scrape up from subsistence farming and herding. The big money is in oil, and the oil profits are tightly controlled by the government.

Deby has clashedrepeatedly with various rebel forces. Trouble on the border with Sudan led him to accuse that country of trying to back a rebellion. This led to strained relations between the two neighboring countries for years. After the fighting with Sudan ended, Deby then had to putdown a coup in his own government. Abbas Koty, a minister in the government, attempted to take over the country but failed largely due to the iron control that Deby has over his military. More trouble erupted with Sudan, andfighting broke out in several places along Chad’s eastern border.

During this time, another attemptwas made to remove Deby from power by shooting down the plane he was flying in. However that plan failed, and Deby remained in power. Rebel forces were ultimately beaten back but not before they had managed to take the fighting all the way to N’Djamena.

All of this fighting has drained the country of Chad of what little resources they have. The problemis compounded by the growing number of refugees pouring over the borders from Sudan and Libya. This unexpected expansion in population has put a strain on both available food and water. Chad faces grim economic times that may become disastrous if left unchanged. This is all due to the policies of President Deby, who prefers to keep a strong military at hand.

After Deby’s latest reelection, troubles again broke out with rebel groups. These groups broke away from the government, and began launching attacks much in the manner Deby used when he came to power. This guerrilla style of fighting again allowed the rebel groups to bring the fight to the president, when battles broke out in the capital itself. The president remained in power however, after weeks of intense fighting. He continues to blame outside forces and influences for the turmoil in his country.

Recently Deby clashed with the companies of Big Oil, claiming thatthey withheld profits that were rightfully the country of Chad’s. At that time the ruling party passed legislation allocation the profits from oil revenues into things like education, agriculture and the country’s infrastructure. The legal battles surrounding this issue are lengthy, and still ongoing. Deby’s detractors claim that the money that has been brought into Chad has been appropriated and misused by him for his own means. The United Nations has noted with some concern, the large amount of money that has gone into Chad’s military budget, at the expense of its populace.

President Deby continues to face many issues,both at home and abroad. He has been tied politically to other terrorist organizations, and dictatorships. He allegedly attended the Libyan leader Quaddaffi’s “Harvard For Tyrants” which was basically a boot camp of sorts. There theywere given weapons training, as well as advanced training in technology, tactics and intelligence. Several top military officials attended this series of camps. These people are now among the most ruthless and bloody dictators of the world. President Deby is part of a select group of leaders, who all have the same thing in common. They all overthrew a government to get to power, and they all hate the United States.

President Deby has made politics into a family business,with mixed results. After several marriages, Deby married again in 2005. This marriage had wide ranging political impact. His wife was already known for her beauty, and her tribal affiliations allowed Deby to soothe over troubled spots with the various clans in Chad. His wife has proven to be a competent and fair politician. She was appointed to the Civil Cabinet Of The Presidency, where she serves as General Secretary.

President Deby also had a son who had a brief career in politics as an adviser to the President. This was not a popular appointment, and the president’s son was not liked by many because he was abusive of his staff. He was dismissed from his political post after he was arrested for drug possession and otheroffenses. He was found dead after that in a parking garage. His death was ruled suspicious, but no one was ever caught. The president blamed the criminalelement of the city.

Although still in power, President Debycontinues to be plagued by troubles at home. There are currently seventy eight different political parties in opposition to him. His party still enjoys a large majority in every branch of the government, including the National Assembly, which is the lawmaking body of Chad’s government. This majoritycame about largely because at first other political parties were outlawed. It is only recently that President Deby has begun to allow representatives from other parties to have a say in policy, or to even express a viewpoint.

President Deby continues to have off again on again relations with neighboring countries. His ties toterrorist leaders and dictator style government have raised many concerns around the world. He continues to demand more money for the oil that Chad exports, which he uses to fund his pet projects, which namely seem to be putting down rebellions.

Of course the ones who suffer most because of this are the people that had nothing to do with it. Over eighty percent of Chad’s population staggers along under the poverty level. Starvation is common, disease runs rampant through the poorer parts of the country. Then to add insult to injury, the people are the ones who pay the most when fighting breaks out. Their villages and lands are burned, their children are forced into the fighting, or suffer horrible abuses at the hands of soldiers. The stateof the people of Chad has attracted the attention of many civil rights groups, as well as the attention of some major political players as well. The United Nations is involved into an ongoing investigation of the abuse of human rights in Chad. The results thus far have been horrifying, and there is no end in sight.

Deby continues to distance himself from the most disturbing allegations,blaming corrupt officials in his government, and power hungry soldiers in the battlefield. He has ignored several calls for his resignation, and vows to remain in power as long as he can manage to do so.

However he does it, he won’t be doing it for long. Sooner or later the people of Chad will get tired of the way theirleaders ride on their backs to luxury and riches. They will get tired of watching the majority of the population go hungry at night, while the government and favored officials live well. They will get tired of the repeated wars breaking out all over the country, and the abuses that are heaped upon the populace by the soldiers whenever fighting breaks out. It issaid that all good things come to an end. Well so do all bad things, even dictators, and presidents who act like dictators.