Two weeks after veteran Chadian leader Idriss Deby Itno was mortally wounded fighting a rebel force, one of his predecessors, ex-president Goukouni Weddeye, has called for inclusive dialogue to “save Chad”.

Goukouni, who ruled the turbulent Sahel country from 1980 to 1982, urged “reconciliation to end our quarrels,” in a process that would embrace the Libyan-based rebels who claimed Deby’s life.

The rebels of the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) mounted an offensive in April, threatening to advance on the capital N’Djamena, before the army fought them back.

A junta, formally known as the Transitional Military Council (CMT), took over after Deby’s death and on Sunday named a transitional government.

The junta’s head, Deby’s 37-year-old son Mahamat, has vowed to eradicate the rebel force, ruling out negotiations.

But Goukouni, 77, said in an interview with correspondents “the destruction of the country” was the major risk, and questioned the hard line.

“We have to bring them (the rebels) in too. We cannot consider them as criminal enemies and reject them. It is impossible,” he said, suggesting a “round table” negotiating format.

Dressed in an immaculate white robe and sporting a neatly trimmed goatee, Goukouni has evolved into a statesman since his early rebel days.

A figure who rarely makes public comments, he is being courted by leading players in the country’s crisis, one of his aides said.

Succession of rebellions –

Goukouni’s nemesis was the ruthless Hissene Habre, sentenced by a special African court in Senegal in 2016 to life in jail for crimes against humanity.

It was the elder Deby who overthrew Habre in 1990, going on to repel several coup attempts and uprisings to rule for 30 years, winning a string of elections in the face of a fragmented opposition and boycotts. In the hours before he died, Deby was proclaimed victor of the latest presidential poll in a landslide.

Since Chad’s independence from France in 1960, the country has never seen a transfer of power through the ballot box. Goukouni, Habre and Deby each led a rebellion in their time.

Chad was thrown into turmoil by Deby’s death, announced just the day after he was declared the winner of an April 11 election — giving him a sixth mandate after 30 years at the helm.

Now, almost a fortnight after the junta took over, uncertainty reigns in the former French colony of around 16 million people.

Goukouni warned that opportunists could swoop in during a power vacuum.

Supporting the army would be the only way to ensure democratic elections down the road, he argued. The junta has vowed a transition within 18 months.

Chad, with a well respected fighting force, is central to the West’s fight against jihadists in the Sahel, where myriad Islamist extremist groups operate.

Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacke paid a visit last week to Goukouni in the sumptuous residence the former rebel leader received from the senior Deby in 2009 upon his return from 22 years in exile.

Goukouni warned against vindictiveness.

The CMT “cannot talk like someone who wants a vendetta,” he said. “We should not throw salt into the wound.”

Sixteen Niger soldiers have been killed and another is missing after an ambush against a patrol in the Tahoua region near the Mali border, local officials said Sunday.

During the attack by “bandits” on Saturday the toll was “16 dead, six injured and one missing,” Tahoua department secretary general Ibrahim Miko said on public television.

He attended the funeral of Lieutenant Maman Namewa, commander of the patrol which was attacked.

The vast desert area of Tahoua in the west of the country sits close to the borders of both Mali and Burkina Faso and has been plagued by jihadist violence since 2012.

In March an attack by suspected jihadists on three villages near Niger’s border with Mali left a total of 141 people dead, according to the official toll.

They were the worst attacks committed by suspected jihadists in Niger in recent years.

The world’s poorest nation according to the UN’s development rankings for 189 countries, Niger is also struggling with Islamist insurgencies that have spilled over from Mali and Nigeria.

The attacks in western Niger are often attributed to groups affiliated to the Al-Qaeda and Islamic State groups.

Such attacks against civilians have multiplied this year, with over 300 people killed in villages and encampments in western Niger.

Somalia’s prime minister has invited regional leaders to a fresh round of negotiations in the hope of resolving a protracted feud over elections that sparked violence in the capital.

The troubled Horn of Africa country is experiencing its worst political crisis in years, with fighting erupting in Mogadishu last week after the president extended his mandate by two years without going to elections.

Opposition fighters remain in the capital even after President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed backed away from the mandate extension at the weekend and agreed to hold a fresh vote.

The president, better known by his nickname Farmajo, on Sunday tasked his prime minister with reaching out to rivals and overseeing the negotiations, a key opposition demand.

A government spokesman said Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble had invited the leaders of Somalia’s five semi-autonomous states to roundtable talks later this month.

“The prime minster expects the heads of the federal member states to accept his invitation and attend the conference scheduled for May 20,” the spokesman, Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimu, told reporters.

Roble also met with opposition heavyweights to discuss stability in Mogadishu, which has been on a knife’s edge since rival factions of the security forces traded gunfire last week, leaving three people dead.

“The prime minister is committed to having everything resolved peacefully and to prepare for the upcoming national reconciliation conference,” the government spokesman said.

Some fighters in opposition strongholds have refused to leave Mogadishu following the clashes that forced tens of thousands of civilians from their homes.

“There are armed men loyal to the opposition in trenches in front of our homes, and we can’t go back until they are gone,” said one resident of the capital, Abdirahman Jeego.

The EU’s ambassador to Somalia Nicolas Berlanga said demilitarising Mogadishu was “the priority for now”.

‘Positive role’ –

“Those that want to play a positive role towards elections should support PM Roble in his key tasks. Division of Mogadishu with militias or out-of-line-of-command security forces is not helping Somali people,” he posted on Twitter.

Farmajo struck a deal with the states in September that paved the way for indirect elections before the government’s term expired in February.

That agreement collapsed as Farmajo and the leaders of two states, Puntland and Jubaland, squabbled over the terms.

But under domestic and international pressure, Farmajo agreed to return to the terms of the September agreement, a decision welcomed by his opponents as a step forward.

Six months of UN-backed talks however failed to salvage the agreement the last time around, and analysts warn that without external pressure the impasse could fester without resolution.