President Idriss Deby has been there before. His government was almost brought down in 2006, when rebels besieged the capital of Chad, N’Djamena.
However, the rebel attack — and siege of the presidential palace — earlier this month was the most serious threat to his rule.
But not by refusing to cower under pressure, Deby has managed to rule Africa’s fifth largest country for more than 17 years.
In the Battle of N’Djamena, which began on February 2, rebels — described by Deby as “mercenaries directed by Sudan” — entered the capital and besieged the presidential palace.
After heavy fighting, which left scores of civilians dead, they withdrew to the outskirts of N’djamena and Deby promptly proclaimed victory.
The son of a cattle herder, Deby was born in a remote village in northern Chad in 1952.
He belongs to the ethnic Zaghawa group. He joined the army and was sent to France for training.
Known for his military prowess, he rose steadily through the ranks. Like many African strongmen, Deby realised early on that the army would be his stepping stone to power.
When central authority crumbled in 1979, he took the side of northern warlord Hissene Habre and helped him topple Libyan-backed president Goukouni Oueddei in 1982 — not without help from the French intelligence service.
Throughout the 1980s Deby made a name for himself by brutally crushing one rebel revolt after another, and was made defence minister by Habre.
However, by 1989 he had fallen out with his mentor, who accused him of plotting a coup.
Deby fled to Sudan, mustered support and formed his own party — the Patriotic Salvation Movement. In 1990, with the help of Libya and Sudan, he toppled Habre and declared himself president.
Deby immediately suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament. In 1994 an amnesty was declared for political prisoners and a new constitution drafted.
In 1996 he won multi-party elections. This was followed by another poll win in 2001.
The election was seen as being generally fair, at least by the standards of the region.
However, the opposition claimed there were widespread irregularities.
Disproportionate
Thanks to Deby, his Zaghawa tribe enjoys a wholly disproportionate share of power, given they comprise not more than 1.5 per cent of Chad’s population of about 10 million.
But the ongoing ethno-political crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region, which borders Chad may still prove to be his undoing.
Deby has been accused by some segments of his mainly Zaghawa army — the bedrock of his support — of not doing enough for the Zaghawa people of Darfur in their struggle against the Khartoum government.
Many of these soldiers have deserted, and today fight as rebels against the N’Djamena government.
There are also persistent reports of Deby’s ill health. He is rumoured to be suffering from liver disease, and is known to have travelled to Paris recently for medical treatment.
Early last year, there were fears that Deby was planning to hand over power to his widely disliked son, Brahim Deby.
But Brahim, then aged 27, was found dead in the garage of his Paris residence last July last year, under mysterious circumstances.
Africa analysts have seen the rebellion against Deby less as an effort to chart a new, better future and more as a fight for spoils among a small elite that has always governed the country.
This may also explain the general apathy of the local population.
Despite being rich in gold and uranium, Deby’s Chad continues to be one of the poorest countries in the world.
It ranks among the bottom five of the 180 nations ranked by the United Nations in its annual human development index reports.
It is also regularly ranked one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
