Chad, 2021 — military coup

Event Summary

On 20 April 2021 President Idriss Deby of Chad died of wounds suffered on the battlefield, and the army immediately installed his son at the head of a military council, bypassing the constitution. Deby, a former army commander who had seized power in a 1990 coup and ruled for over 30 years, had just been declared the winner of a sixth term when a rebel group, the Front for Change and Concord in Chad, known as FACT, advanced south from bases in Libya toward the capital N'Djamena. Instead of giving a victory speech, Deby went to the front to command troops against the rebels and, according to the army, was fatally wounded around 18 to 20 April.

On 20 April the army spokesman announced his death on state television, along with the dissolution of the government and the National Assembly, the suspension of the constitution, a curfew, and the closure of borders. A Transitional Military Council of officers was formed to rule for 18 months, chaired by Deby's son, General Mahamat Idriss Deby, a 37-year-old four star general who commanded the presidential guard. Under the constitution the speaker of the National Assembly should have become acting president with an election within 90 days, so opposition figures and some analysts called the son's installation a coup.

France and other Western partners, who saw Chad as a key counterterrorism ally in the Sahel, largely accepted the transition, citing exceptional circumstances.