JUST IN: Chad President, Idriss Debby Is Dead

 

Chad’s President, Idriss Deby Itno, who was reported on Monday to have won a sixth term has been shot dead.

9japarrot learnt that Deby died while on the frontline during a battle against rebels who were advancing on the country’s capital, Ndjamena. On Tuesday.

Deby, 68, “has just breathed his last defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield” over the weekend, army spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna said in a statement read out on state television.

 

The army had earlier said it had beaten back a column of the fighters, killing some 300 of them.

Mr Deby came to power in 1990.