Thread by @Sipho_Mudau

The name Idris conjures up images of a tall, dark and debonair Englishman. Or a sungura artist.

Unless you’re from Chad, where the name is enough to make you recoil in fear as it belongs to iron-fisted leader since 1990, Idriss Deby.

A thread.

#KnowYourDictators

1. Chad🇹🇩 became independent of France in 1960, but in true democratic style there has never been a change to the Presidency by an election, only succession by capture the flag; the incumbent is killed and the successor tries to hold power for as long as he (its always HE) can.

Debz was born in a village in northern Chad, pretty much the armpit of the country.

To make it worse his father was a poor herder of the Zaghawa community. Why this is relevant will become clear later.

For now, its enough to know that D wasn’t exactly on the fast track to wealth, health and power early on in life☹️

Since civil disobedience in the form of armed rebellion and attempted coups wasn’t exactly rare, it isn’t surprising that D chose soldiering as a career path.

As it turned out, he was pretty good at it. So good that a year after Hissène Habré became President in 1982, D was made commander-in-chief of the army and later chief military advisor.

Unsurprisingly it wasn’t long before D was accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

Which, look...wasn’t totally untrue but it was wrong of Habre to assume😊

In fact, beef🥩 had started between the 2 because of the increasing power of the Presidential Guard.👮🏾‍♂️

At the same time, H was responsible for widespread political killings, systematic torture, arbitrary arrests and ethnic purges including of the Zaghawa.

Not exactly pleased with the massacre of his people, D led an already formenting revolution, giving it what it needed...

...-organisation. Cohesiveness. Direction. Swag.

A student of military history D whipped this a rag-tag group of disorganized civilian soldiers to an efficient fighting force and beat the living 💩 out of H and his minions and ascended to the presidency👑

2. As President, D packed his government and armed forces with members of his Zaghawa clan, which is pretty standard dictator practice to be honest but not when your tribe presents just over 1% of the population.😲

Just like seeing someone wearing a multicoloured scarf🧣 over a suit jacket on a blazing summer day, it didn't take a genius to see that something was wrong here.

D's megalomania even led him to shut public roads when passing through the capital, behaviour which doesn’t...

...endear one to his people.

And yet, my man continues to win elections🗳️, often by believable margins such 88%.

Evidently not everyone is happy with this because he has survived just enough assassination attempts to keep him paranoid enough to respond to any threats by...

...putting on his military fatigues and making a public appearance, reminding people of his ability to unapologetically lay the smack on anyone who even sniffs the wrong way.

3. His foreign policy is isolated too, dominated by a series of quarrels🔫 with the international community particularly with on and off frenemy and (until recently) fellow dictator, Omar Al Bashir.

4. D’s personal life is equally erratic having been married several times and fathering at least a 12 kids👶🏾

So often has he done marriage ceremonies that he didn’t even bother showing up for his wedding to his most recent wife. No bother since this marriage seems to be a way...

...to gain support from her tribe. And of course, she is a member of his presidential cabinet.💼

5. Speaking of cabinet, D’s son was reported to have routinely humiliated govt ministers by slapping🖐🏾 them in public. Presumably after they declared budget surpluses which nobody could see the results of🤷🏾‍♂️

This may or may not have led to his murder in France in 2007, reportedly due to being forced to inhale the white powder from fire extinguishers.

6. At this point, you may wonder how exactly D’s kept power for so long. A rookie question if you’ve read enough of these threads😊

Well the simple answer might be: oil🛢️

And of course with great oil, comes great corruption💰

7. When Chad first discovered oil in the early 2000s, it cut a deal with the World Bank, promising to use most oil revenues for poverty reduction, in return for financial assistance to build a pipeline.

Noble indeed✊🏾

Surprise surprise🥳 - 5 years later, Chad reneged on the deal and diverted most of the oil revenues towards the security sector.🔫

Although strangely enough, this wasn’t enough investment to stop armed rebels from storming the capital in an attempted coup shortly after.

8. D's government is so good at being corrupt that in 2006, Chad🇹🇩 won the much envied accolade of the world's most corrupt nations by Forbes magazine🗞️.

Much of the oil revenue is used to strengthen the army – which, given D’s penchant for international squabbles, is kind of understandable.

The rest of it is used for the high priority goal of rewarding cronies because , hey, Lamborghinis🏎️ aren’t going to drive themselves😊

9. All is not lost, because in 2012, D launched a nationwide anticorruption campaign which unearthed almost $50 million in embezzled funds.

Some of the culprits were even named!😲

And while this seems like a drop💧 in the ocean🌊, at least D is sincere😊

10. Buuuut even though D is an utterly brutal and ruthless super-soldier who stone-cold bulldozes everything in his path and maintains a tyrannical ice-grip on power thanks to agents who snap necks for him in dark corners across Chad...

...he’s done a few good things for international diplomacy, the environment🌴 and has even promised to introduce presidential term limits.

He also legalized political parties in 1992 and entered into agreements🤝 with the World Bank and IMF to carry out economic reforms.

D continues to lead Chad, in what is hopefully his last term, as President.

Please...🙏🏾

11. And that's the history lesson for today, folks!

I guess the moral of the story is that how you start doesn't have to be how you finish. But for goodness' sake, finish at some point!😂