Allies in a crisis

Chad: When realpolitik caught up with Macron at Déby Itno’s funeral 

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This article is part of the dossier:

Africa, according to Macron

By Mathieu Olivier

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Posted on April 8, 2022 14:21

Mahamat Idriss Déby and Emmanuel Macron at the state funeral of Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno, 23 April 2021 in N’Djamena © CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/AFP
Mahamat Idriss Déby and Emmanuel Macron at the state funeral of Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno, 23 April 2021 in N’Djamena © CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/AFP

When French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Chad to attend the funeral of Idriss Déby Itno and endorse the seizure of power by his son, one thing was clear: Paris needed N’Djamena as much as N’Djamena needed Paris.

This is part 5 of an 8-part series

It was 19 April 2021. A persistent rumour was circulating in the top-secret corridors of Franco-African politics. There were those who did not dare say it out loud and those who simply did not want to believe it… But the story spread, from one person “learning about it” to another: Idriss Déby Itno had been killed in fighting between his army and the rebels of the Front pour l’Alternance et la Aoncorde au Tchad (FACT) – a military and political organisation with the goal of overthrowing the Chadian government. In Paris, the headquarters of the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), France’s foreign intelligence agency, was on high alert.

The ‘swimming pool’ – the DGSE’s other nickname, inherited from the sports arena located not far from its premises on Boulevard Mortier – had its ‘big ears’ in place.

In N’Djamena, the agency maintained

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