Ex-Junta Leader Deby Takes Oath as Chad’s New President
POLITICS DIGEST- Chad’s newly elected president and junta leader Mahamat Idriss Deby was inaugurated on Thursday following an election disputed by the opposition.
The country’s constitutional council confirmed Deby’s victory of the May 6 poll last week, dismissing challenges by two losing candidates.
Chad, an oil-producing country, is the first of a string of coup-hit states in West and Central Africa’s Sahel region to attempt a return to constitutional rule by holding elections.
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Chad has remained a key Western ally in the fight against al-Qaeda and Islamic State-linked insurgencies in the Sahel region.
But Washington and former colonial power France have kept a wary eye since Chad’s air force chief last month told the U.S. to halt activities at an air base, citing problems with paperwork.
The U.S. State Department said Washington was concerned that thousands of civil society and opposition party observers were barred from observing the electoral process the day before the vote.
Deby’s victory prolongs the rule of the family that has had a firm grip on power since Deby’s father took over in a coup in the early 1990s.
(Reuters)
