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Chad’s President Idriss Deby Itno on Monday took oath for a fifth five year term in office extending his 26-year grip on power during an occasion graced by 14 African heads, including President Museveni amidst a torrid political atmosphere in the background.
The alluring inaugural ceremony at the Grand Hotel in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, took place a day after violent protests in the impoverished Central African nation with the opposition contesting his re-election which they described as an attempt to die in power.
President Deby, 64, who is also the African Union (AU) chairperson, has been in power since 1990 and was re-elected in April with about 60 per cent, trouncing the main opposition candidate Saleh Kebzabo who was said to have garnered only 12 per cent.
Dignitaries
Other Presidents who graced the swearing-in ceremony were Benin’s Patrice Talon, Central African Republic’s Faustin Archange Touadera, Burkina Faso’s Roch Kabore, Mali’s Ibrahim Boucbacar, Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari, Sudan’s Omar-al Bashir, DR Congo’s Joseph Kabila, and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, among others.
President Deby, who was among the 14 heads of state who graced President Museveni’s swearing-in in Kampala on May 12, in his speech according to a statement issued by presidential press secretary Linda Nabusayi, saluted the African counterparts for gracing his inauguration ceremony saying that their attendance demonstrated a close bond of brotherhood existing between respective countries and the people of Chad.
A former army commander, General Deby like President Museveni, also got rid of term limits in 2005 and is similarly, despite his repressive government, a darling of the West in the efforts to fight terrorism against the Islamist militias, the Boko-Haram.
President Museveni, while on a two-day visit to N’Djamena also toured Chad’s refinery complex accompanied by select petroleum officials in the ministry of Energy from Uganda.
The background
In 2011, Chad finished construction and started refining oil at Djrmaya refinery after a Chinese company, the Chinese National Petroleum Company Incorporation (CNPCI) offered the country a helping hand. Oil revenues contribute about 70 per cent of the country’s budget. Chad is Africa’s seventh biggest oil producer at 180,000 barrels per day.
