The Deby Clan and the Role of the Army in Chadian Politics

Abstract

For more than 30 years (1990–2021), Chad was ruled by Idriss Deby, one of the most prominent African leaders, who came to power at the head of an armed insurgent group and established a rigidly authoritarian, de facto military regime, but with the elements of electoral democracy expressed in the holding of presidential and parliamentary elections. As in other African countries (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, etc.), where former rebels became heads of states and governments, ministers and parliamentarians, in Chad under I. Deby there was an atmosphere of permanent political instability amid the constant expansion of powers of law enforcement agencies.
Until the late 2000s, Chad was essentially a repressive state with an underdeveloped economy, entirely dependent on financial assistance and military-political support of the West. Its army was split into competing factions and was characterized by a lack of professionalism. The situation began to change in the 2010s owing to an increase in oil revenues, which allowed to implement a reform of the armed forces. As a result, Chad’s army became a powerful military force in Central Africa, the Sahara-Sahel zone, and the Lake Chad basin, where the country played an important role in weakening the Islamist group Boko Haram.
The paper examines the military-political situation in Chad during the rule of Idriss Deby and, after his death in April 2021, the rule of his son and successor Mahamat Deby. The authors establish the continuity of the two regimes in terms of, firstly, the militarization of the socio-political life and, secondly, the methods of resolving the collision between the government and the opposition.