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Chad's President to Seek Fifth Term


FILE - Chad's President Idriss Deby, shown addressing the U.N. General Assembly in September 2014, says his country need not "remain in a system where changing leaders becomes difficult."
FILE - Chad's President Idriss Deby, shown addressing the U.N. General Assembly in September 2014, says his country need not "remain in a system where changing leaders becomes difficult."

Chad's President Idriss Deby said Tuesday that he would run for a fifth term in April's election and promised to restore term limits if he wins.

Deby seized power in a 1990 coup.

Term limits were scrapped in 2005 just as a civil war between Muslims and Christians erupted.

"The principles of presidential term limits in the constitution must be reintroduced," Deby told a political party convention Tuesday. "Today, nothing requires us to remain in a system where changing leaders becomes difficult."

He said the "life of the nation was in danger" when term limits were ended in 2005.

Chad has become a key Western ally in the fight against Boko Haram terrorists in neighboring Nigeria.

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