Chad’s President, Idriss Deby, recently staged elections to secure a plebiscite for a sixth term in office. Although the election was blatantly anti-democratic the world won’t criticize the Chadian dictator. A new article by Lynsey Chutel in Foreign Policy argues that the world turns a blind eye to Chad’s dictator and his dictatorship because of Chad’s role in the war on terror. Here is an excerpt:

Vying for his sixth consecutive term, President Idriss Déby was a clear front-runner in Chad’s presidential election this past week and is on course to win his sixth term.

Déby, 68, came to power as the head of the Sudanese-supported Patriotic Salvation Movement that removed the brutal dictator Hissène Habré in 1990. Instead of ushering in democracy, Déby sought to consolidate a military regime that is rubber-stamped by regular elections.

Needing an ally in the troubled Sahel, Western powers have consistently turned a blind eye to Déby’s autocratic rule. He was a key French ally in curbing Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi’s expansion further south, and when a Chadian rebel force tried to overthrow Déby by advancing from Libya in 2019, France deployed warplanes to come to his aid.

The full article can be accessed through this link. Also, visit the main Democracy Chronicles section on World Democracy or our articles on Worldwide Corruption.