AU mourns death of Chad’s president

ADDIS ABABA, April 21 — The African Union (AU) on late Tuesday expressed condolences to the family and the people of Chad following the death of Chadian President Idriss Deby.
Deby died Tuesday from injuries he received last weekend on the frontline of a fight against rebels, said the spokesperson for the Chadian army, General Azem Bermandoa Agouna, on national television.
“The late President Deby played a key role in promoting the AU’s Agenda to promote peace and security and he was an ardent supporter of the Union’s efforts to create an environment of security and stability, especially within the Sahel region,” said a statement from the pan-African bloc.
The AU said it stands in solidarity with the government and people of Chad during this difficult time and joins them in mourning the loss of a champion of Africa’s endeavors to provide a peaceful, secure and stable continent.
On Monday evening, the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Deby the winner of the presidential election of April 11, with 79.32 percent of the votes cast for a sixth term, according to provisional results.
Since April 11, the polling day, militants of the Front for Alternation and Concord in Chad, an armed rebel group based in neighboring Libya, have made incursions into the province of Tibesti, in northern Chad. (Xinhua)