2021 — A President Dies on the Battlefield

On April 20, 2021, Chad's army announced that President Idriss Déby had died of wounds suffered while commanding his troops against rebels in the country's north. He had been on the front line with his soldiers when he was wounded. The timing was staggering: just the day before, he had been declared the winner of presidential elections extending his thirty-year rule to a sixth term.

That same day, his son Mahamat took power at the head of a Transitional Military Council. In a single day, Chad lost a president of thirty years and saw power pass to his son and the military.