General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno was sworn in on Monday October 10 as head of state of Chad for the next two years.
In accordance with the conclusions of the National Sovereign and Inclusive Dialogue (DNIS) which ended on Saturday October 8 in N’Djamena, General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno was sworn in as president of the transition for the next 24 months.
He took the oath in the presence of Nigerian President Muhamadu Buhari and representatives of some of Chad’s neighbours.
Following the death of his father, Marshal Idriss Déby Itno during a counter-offensive against rebels of the Front for Alternance and Concord in Chad (FACT) in the north of the country, Mahamat Idriss Deby was appointed to head the Transitional Military Council (CMT) by fifteen generals.
This was after the president of the National Assembly gave up the right to stand in as interim president as provided for by the laws in force in the central African country.
Chad’s young leader had promised an 18-month transition, renewable once.
But he seemed to have changed his mind since last June by entrusting his presidential destiny to God.
Finally, the DNIS, in which FACT and part of the opposition did not take part, allowed him not only to extend the duration of the transition but also to run in the next presidential elections.
The African Union asked the junta to respect ‘the eighteen-month period for the completion of the transition.’
It also recalled “unequivocally that no member of the Transitional Military Council can be a candidate in the elections at the end of the transition.”
The European Union also expressed its “concern” after the decision adopted Saturday by the DNIS delegates to extend the transition and allow General Mahamat Idriss Deby to run for the presidency in the upcoming elections.
AC/lb/as/APA