Five facts you should know about late Chad’s President Idriss Deby

Chad’s President Idriss Deby, a former army officer who seized power and ruled the central Africa nation for 30 years died on Tuesday at the age of 68 from injuries sustained while fighting the latest rebellion in the north of the country.

Here are five facts about Deby

* He died a day after being declared winner of a disputed April 11 presidential election that was boycotted by the main opposition parties.

* Déby joined the army in the 1970s when Chad was going through a long-running civil war. He received military training in France and earned a pilot’s licence. He returned to Chad in 1978 and threw his support behind the president, Hissène Habré, eventually becoming commander in chief of the armed forces.

* Recognised as a brilliant military strategist who has been able to survive numerous coup attempts and rebellions, Deby never hesitated to join soldiers on the battlefront in his military fatigues. Last year, he took the title of Field Marshal of Chad.

* Deby seized power in 1990, leading a rebel army swathed in desert headgear in a three-week offensive, launched from neighbouring Sudan’s Darfur region to topple Habre, a man accused of instigating tens of thousands of political murders.

* Western countries have seen Deby as an ally in the fight against Islamist extremist groups, including Boko Haram in the Lake Chad basin and groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State in the Sahel region.