![Chad President Idriss Deby takes part in a working session during the G5 Sahel summit, June 30, 2020, in Nouakchott, Mauritania (AFP pool photo by Ludovic Marin via AP Images).](https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/l_chad-deby-07292020-1.jpg?w=519&h=259&crop=1)
President Idriss Deby of Chad is one of the world’s longest-ruling national leaders, having first taken power in an armed rebellion in 1990. Since then, the country has continued to struggle with high rates of poverty and severe developmental challenges, even as security forces ruthlessly suppress every sign of dissent. Under Deby’s enduring rule, Chad has also taken on a number of important roles in regional security and counterinsurgency efforts that are backed by Western governments, including France, Chad’s former colonizer. Those efforts have earned Deby considerable loyalty in Paris and other Western capitals, but they may also be testing […]