Chad's Military Rulers Name Civilian Prime Minister; Opposition Protests

N'DJAMENA, CHAD - Chad's new military rulers named a civilian politician, Albert Pahimi Padacke, as prime minister of a transitional government on Monday, a week after President Idriss Deby's battlefield death, but opposition leaders quickly dismissed the appointment. 

Padacke served as prime minister from 2016 to 2018 and was seen as an ally of Deby, who ruled Chad for 30 years.  A military council seized power after Deby was killed as he visited troops fighting rebels on April 19. Opposition politicians have called the military takeover a coup, and two said on Monday the army had no right to pick a premier.  The transition and the wrangling around it is being watched closely in a country that is a power in central Africa and a longtime Western ally against Islamist militants across the Sahel.