The chronology recalls that France installed and then swept away all the Presidents who succeeded each other at the head of Chad”, it is the conviction of the Senegalese political scientist Babacar Justin Ndiaye. The latter, in a text published on social networks on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 following the death of President Idriss Déby, discusses the rebel movements in Chad. Babacar Justin Ndiaye amply evokes the story of Mahadi Mahamat Ali, founder of the Front pour l’Alternance et la Concorde au Tchad (FACT), Idriss Déby’s killer. Here is the complete analysis of the Senegalese politician, published just after the death of the strong man of Chad, at the age of 68.
The offensive and sudden rebellion, in the wake of the presidential election in Chad, drew the observers from the deep torpor in which the endless reign of the President and no less Marshal Idriss Déby had inevitably plunged them. The stream of blood and the panorama of death are there, dramatically invading. A succession of tragic scenes that cover cards, hide the underside of cards and mask certain actors and their sponsors near or far.
Since 1964-1965, the History of Chronic Rebellions in Chad has revealed men who have held the top of the media and political agenda – with varying durations. Among them are Ibrahim Abatcha (killed in action by the Foreign Legion), Doctor Abba Siddick, Hissène Habré, Goukouni Weddèye, Ahmet Acyl, and other Acheik Ibn Omar. The list is emblematic, but not exhaustive. Not to mention, of course, Idriss Déby who was successively military, guerrillas and head of state.
In this month of April 2021, the man who is at the forefront of the sudden war against the Ndjaména 30-year regime is very little known outside the high diplomatic spheres, compartmentalized circles of international intelligence and politically connected circles of the Chadian Diaspora. His name, profile, background and, above all, the traces of his itinerary provide a wealth of information on the games and the issues of all kinds that condition the immediate future of post-Deby Chad.
Born in 1964, Mahadi Mahamat Ali belongs to the great ethnic group of the Goranes, like Hissène Habré. He lives in Rennes, France, with his wife and children. Rennes where he obtained a Master in Management. It’s the quiet side of his life.
On the other hand, the garden side of Mahadi Mahamat Ali is less smooth and less linear.Passionate about politics and frantic commitment, the founder of the Front pour l’Alternance au Tchad (FACT) flirted with all the armed rebellion movements of the 2000s. In this capacity, he was close to the Herdimi and other Nouri who made the shot in Tibesti or along the Chado-Sudanese border.
However, it was the day after Nicolas Sarkozy’s overthrow of Gaddafi by France that Mahadi Mahamat Aly took off. Since 2011, he has made numerous visits to Libya and for a long time bivouaqué in Benghazi under the protection of the famous Marshal Haftar, the strong man of Eastern Libya. With Haftar, the future President of FACT fought against the government of Tripoli then presided by Fayez el-Sarraj. With Haftar, he shared the same godparents as France and Qatar. Two countries in duo in the Libyan case.
Moreover, it is rumoured that through a certain division of labor or a certain division of roles, it is Paris that strategically spurs the war of Mahadi Mahamat Aly; while Doha finances it with millions of dollars, to acquire no less than 800 Toyota Land-Cruiser, stockpiles of weapons and tons of ammunition. At the time this article is published, the head of FACT, Mahadi Mahamat Ali, is reported in the small agglomeration of Tanoua, a town straddling the border between Libya and Chad.
History does not repeat itself. Nevertheless, it stutters. The chronology recalls that France installed and then swept away all the Presidents who succeeded each other at the head of Chad. From François Tombalbaye to Idriss Déby, via General Félix Malloum and Hissène Habré. Not to mention the Heads of State of Transition such as Lol Mahamat Choua, Goukouni Weddèye and Jean Alingué.
Indeed, Idriss Déby, who has a memory, must now have nightmares, with the memory of his coming to power, in December 1990, to the detriment of President Hissène Habré. Indeed, it was after a meeting in the Island of Crete, in Greece, between François Mitterrand and Mouammar El Gadhafi that the fate of the current tenant of the Prison of Cap Manuel (Hissène Habré) was sealed, with a modus operandi untilthe invariable: Gaddafi had paid for the military equipment, Gaafar El Nimeiri had offered Sudan as a rear base and France had sent Agent Paul Fontbonne of the DGSE to support Idriss Déby in his victorious raid.Question: Has Paris programmed Mahadi Mahamat Ali as yesterday she programmed Déby and deprogrammed Habré?
Unquestionably, the government army has sausaged and shredded a rebel column that has ventured far from its bases, even into the Kanem, without a continuous flow of logistics.Nevertheless, the alert remains hot and foreshadows a reprieve for a useful Marshal in the Sahel but worn out by three decades of political stagnation.
