US embassy cable - 05NDJAMENA1672

C O N F I D E N T I A L  NDJAMENA 001672 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF, AF/C, AF/RSA, INR, AND DRL; LONDON AND 
PARIS FOR AFRICAWATCHERS; 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, MARR, MOPS, CD, Government and Biographic Reports, Political Stability 
SUBJECT: CHAD: DEBY SHAKES UP MILITARY LEADERSHIP 
 
REF: A. NDJAMENA 1668 
     B. NDJAMENA 1583 
     C. NDJAMENA IIR 6 910 0025 
 
Classified By: Political/Economic Officer Kathleen FitzGibbon for reaso 
ns 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C)  Summary.  President Idriss Deby carried out a 
military shake-up on November 15.  The changes include the 
chiefs of the Armed Forces, Gendarmerie, Nomadic Guard, and 
National Police.  The most surprising change was the removal 
of Deby relative, General Mahamat Saleh Ibrahim, who had 
served as Nomadic Guard Commandant since Deby came to power. 
Two weeks earlier, the Government announced the dissolution 
of the Presidential Guard and replaced it with a new 
presidential security force.  Many of the newly-appointed 
commanders are relatives of Deby, the new Armed Forces chief 
Tirgo, and the new Gendarmerie Commander.  These changes come 
in the aftermath of military desertions over the past two 
months and represent an attempt to weed out disloyal officers 
and instill some discipline into the military.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (C)  On November 15, two days after attacks on two 
military installations, the Government of Chad announced 
changes within the top ranks of the military leadership. 
(Ref A) Deby dismissed Armed Forces Chief Mahamat Saleh Kaya 
and replaced him with the former director of the Gendarmerie 
Banayanan Kossingar, who was promoted from colonel to general 
in order to assume the position.  Kaya's removal came as no 
surprise after he refused to fire on the military deserters 
in the east and persuaded Deby to negotiate instead.  (Ref B) 
One general who was offered the position told P/E officer on 
November 16 that he refused the job.  In his opinion, Deby 
had to reach down to find someone that he could trust and 
that Banayanan is a tough, no-nonsense professional who can 
be counted on to do a good job.  Embassy officers have had a 
strong working relationship with Banayanan in his capacity as 
gendarme chief.  Kaya was named as a military advisor in the 
Presidency. 
 
3.  (C) The more surprising move was Deby's replacement of 
his uncle, Mahamat Saleh Ibrahim, who was the Commandant of 
the Nomadic Guard with an ethnic Gorane, Colonel Moussa 
Sougui Haware.  Ibrahim was considered Deby's most loyal 
family and military member, who according to a Deby family 
member, usually keeps his opinions to himself.  He recently 
disagreed with Deby over the path the country was on and paid 
for it with his job. 
 
4.  (C) Presidential military advisor Moussa Haroun Tirgo was 
named the director of the National Police.  Another family 
source said that this appointment may have been made so that 
Tirgo is also in charge of police intelligence, which Deby 
may now consider essential to his ability to remain in power. 
 The new Gendarmerie Commander is Tirgo's cousin, Col. Abakar 
Abdelkerim Daoud.  Another Deby relative, Colonel Abakar 
Youssouf Mahamat Itno was moved from the now defunct 
Presidential Guard Commander to the position of Army Chief. 
 
5.  (C) Many of the newly appointed regional military and 
gendarmerie commanders are related to Deby, Tirgo, or the 
newly-appointed Gendarmerie Commander Abakar Abdelkerim 
Daoud.  There are more ethnic Goranes in key positions. 
Another important appointment was that of Colonel Mahamat 
Souleyman Ousmane as the regional military commander for the 
Lake Chad area.  An ethnic Zaghawa, he has a reputation for 
being exceptionally brutal and reportedly may have served 
prison time in the United States for murder. 
 
6.  (C) The change in military leadership follows on the 
heels of the dissolution of the Republican Guard and its 
replacement with the Direction Generale de Service and 
Securite des Institutions de l'Etat (DGSSIE).  The DGSSIE was 
created to provide security for the President and other high 
level government officials and to defend "independence, 
national unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity" of 
Chad.  The DGSSIE will have 1,640 personnel and is attached 
to the Presidency and commanded by officers nominated by the 
President by decree. 
 
7.  (C)  Meanwhile, the Government continues its 
investigation into the attacks on the two military 
installations earlier in the week.  The Government said that 
it has arrested some of the participants.  Human rights 
groups are telling us that some of those arrested have 
already been executed by order of the President.  A retired 
 
general has told us that former Nomadic Guard Commander 
Mahamat Saleh Ibrahim's name has been circulated as being 
possibly complicit in the attacks.  His bodyguards are being 
held.  In addition, a former Deby ally, Loum Hinansou Laina, 
is also under suspicion of having supported the deserters as 
is the youngest brother of Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimnadji. 
- - - - 
COMMENT 
- - - - 
 
8.  (C) Deby's doubts about the military's loyalty and 
subsequent military shake-up come as no surprise in the 
aftermath of recent military desertions and attacks on 
military installations.  He appears to have put loyal 
officers, many of them relatives and ethnic Gorane, in key 
positions.  Their immediate challenge is to stabilize the 
security situation.  Nonetheless, the removal of Mahamat 
Saleh Ibrahim could cause him more family problems in the 
future if he does not find an acceptable position for him. 
TAMLYN 
 
 
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