Chad’s election on May 6 appears to offer voters a choice.
But it’s been masterminded, analysts say, to produce a single outcome: to rubber-stamp the rule of the incumbent, Mahamat Idriss Déby, who is seeking to transform himself from military leader to civilian president.
Mr. Déby seized power three years ago after his father, Idriss Déby, who ruled Chad with an iron fist for three decades, was killed — apparently on the battlefield, fighting rebels trying to overthrow his government.
Chad is a landlocked, arid country of 18 million people in Central Africa.
Chad is also part of a belt of African countries to have experienced coups in the past four years, stretching from coast to coast.
Persons:
it’s, Mahamat Idriss Déby, Déby, Idriss Déby, —
Locations:
Chad, country’s, Central Africa, Sudan