Appointed prime minister on October 12, Saleh Kebzabo, a politician from Léré in the south-west of the country has the heavy task of forming a government of national unity as promised by the president of the transition, General Mahamat Idriss Déby.
From being a fierce opponent of Mahamat’s father Idriss Deby, the new Prime Minister of Chad’s transition, has become a major collaborator with his son.
He has just been called to form the new government of national unity.
The 75-year-old was appointed on Wednesday by presidential decree by the successor of Idriss Déby Itno, himself invested head of state on Monday, October 10, at the end of a national reconciliation dialogue boycotted by much of the opposition.
The president of the National Union for Development and Renewal (UNDR), a member of the National Assembly of Chad since 2002, has a rich political career.
After studying journalism at the Centre de formation des journalistes in Paris, he worked at the Chad News Agency and contributed to Jeune Afrique and Demain l’Afrique.
In his first presidential election in 1996, he obtained 8. 6 percent of the vote.
He was also a candidate in 2001 and obtained 7 percent. He also ran in 2006.
Since 2011, he was considered the leader of the opposition to President Idriss Déby, who was killed on 20 April 2021 during a counter-offensive he led in the north against the rebels of the Front for Alternance and Concord in Chad (Fact).
In the 2016 presidential election, he came second with 12.80 percent of the vote, while Idriss Déby obtained 61.56 percent of the votes cast.
In 2018, he surprised the rest of the opposition by agreeing to meet President Déby.
In Chad, the leader of the opposition is obliged to meet with the head of state for consultation.
For the presidential election in April 2021, 15 opposition parties are grouped in the Alliance Victoire.
In February 2021, the alliance organised a primary to designate its candidate.
Kebzabo faced Théophile Bebzoune Bongoro who won.
On 12 February 2021, Saleh Kebzabo announced that his party, the UNDR, was withdrawing from Alliance Victoire and that he was nominated as the candidate of his own party for the 11 April 2021 elections.
In March 2021, he decided to withdraw his candidacy and denounced the ‘obvious militarisation of the political climate’ after security forces stormed the residence of candidate Yaya Dillo.
After the death of Déby senior in April 2021, his son Mahamat Idriss Déby took power after the president of the National Assembly gave up his role as interim president.
Kebzabo recognises the legitimacy of the authority of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) formed by the military.
The junta sets up a Committee for the Organisation of an Inclusive and Sovereign National Dialogue (DNIS), charged with involving civil society in the implementation of a return to democracy.
In August 2021, Kebzabo was appointed vice-president of the Organising Committee, a position he held until his appointment as prime minister.
In his first outing as Chad’s new PM, Kebzabo said that “great works” are expected during the 24 months of the transition, adding that the priority is to achieve free and democratic elections at the end of this period.
Married with four children, Kebzabo will have to fight hard to complete his mission.
Several former opponents ended up boycotting the national conference that opened in August after several postponements.
These meetings only widened the prerogatives of the current strongman of N’Djamena, who can now dismiss the Prime Minister.
The Catholic Church, which apparently saw things coming, withdrew from the process very early on after “witnessing an electoral campaign, with on the one hand those who support change and a renewal of the political class and on the other those who are blocking everything and want to continue as before, by putting in place a skilfully orchestrated machine.
ARD/te/lb/as/APA