Chad’s President Deby Sworn In for Fifth Term After Election Win

(Bloomberg) -- Chadian President Idriss Deby was sworn in for a fifth term in the capital, N’Djamena, extending his 26-year rule over the oil-producing African nation.

A former army commander who took power in 1990, Deby scrapped term limits in 2005. He won April’s election with 61.6 percent of the votes, with opposition leader Saleh Kebzaho taking 12.8 percent, according to the national election commission. Monday’s ceremony was broadcast on state television.

Chad’s economy has been hurt by the sharp drop in international oil prices and a deterioration of regional security, with an increasingly chaotic Libya to the north and the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in Nigeria to the southwest. Deby has played a key role in mobilizing regional armies to fight the militants. Oil revenue accounts for about 70 percent of Chad’s budget.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel N'doh Nadjitan in N'Djamena at nnadjitan@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn, John Viljoen