Nairobi, March 25 -- Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno, who has ruled since 1990, is gearing up to take on his sixth mandate as head of state. Elections are scheduled for 11 April 2021. And the country's 2018 constitution allows him to stay in office, if elected, until 2033.
Deby is an experienced military man who first joined the army in the 1970s during the former French colony's civil war. He eventually became commander in chief of the armed forces under former president Hissene Habre who served from 1982 to 1990.
In that year, an insurrection led by Deby hounded President Habre out of office. Deby promised to establish a functioning multiparty democracy and to put an end to the previous regime's lawlessness and violence. That promise...