I only saw the late Chadian ruler Idriss Déby twice. The first was in 2014 at the first Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security, the now yearly event organized by the French Defense Ministry in Senegal’s capital to strengthen ties with African allies fighting against terrorism in the Sahel. The five presidents of the new French and U.S.-backed G-5 Sahel coalition (Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad) were present. Among them, Déby was obviously the king, thanks to the key role his army, reputed as the strongest in the region, was already playing alongside the French in Mali.
My second sighting of Déby was in 2016 in Am Djéress, his small capital in the desert of northeastern Chad. When Déby became a prominent army officer in the 1980s, many members of his Zaghawa ethnic group left their Saharan homeland for the real capital, N’Djamena. In the early 2000s, Am Djéress had no more than a few huts made of branches until Déby decided to build a new town, beginning with his own house. Willingly or not, his clansmen had to follow.
