Chad first lady brushes aside last oil expert from idriss deby era

摘要

With the replacement of thernChadian presidency’s oil advisor,rnAteib Abdessalam at the end ofrnMay, the regime has now effectivelyrnbeen stripped of any oil technicianrnwith overseas training and experiencernin dealing with foreign companiesrnactive in the country, thernlikes of ExxonMobil. Abdessalam,rnhimself a former executive at thernAmerican major, has been replacedrnby Hawa Hagar MahamatrnYoussef, who may be a close friendrnof first lady Hinda Deby Itno butrnis a complete newcomer to oil. Afterrngraduating in finance from a Frenchrnuniversity, Youssef was appointedrnhead of finances at the ministry ofrnmines before turning thirty. Priorrnto becoming oil advisor to thernpresidency, she was director ofrnSMEs for the country’s tax collectionrnagency. The move to putrnAbdessalam out of the picture,rnthough himself a Zaghawa like thernpresident, came from Hinda DebyrnItno. The first lady has beenrnmethodically campaigning to haverna number of specialists in the sectorrnreplaced by her and her husband’srnfamilies. Her tactics notablyrnsucceeded in having Béchir Madetrntake over the head of the oil ministryrnfrom Djerassem le Bemadjiel.rnThis strategy however has leftrnpresident Deby with practically nornexperienced oil players to call on,rnwhether in the ministry, the stateownedrnSHT ( AEI 790) or nowrnthe presidency.