An AFP journalist saw the bodies of five people, including two covered with the national flag and three with bloody white sheets, lying on the floor of the hospital located in the 7th arrondissement, the epicenter of the demonstrations in the capital. These five people were “killed by bullets”, the head doctor of the Chagoua Union hospital, Joseph Ampil, told AFP.
The Red Cross of Chad said it had deployed “a dozen teams” in the districts under tension in the capital. “We are providing first aid and we are transporting dozens of injured people by vehicle to hospitals,” its president, Khalla Ahmat Senoussi, told AFP.
Asked by AFP, the authorities had not reacted at midday.
France, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “condemned” the violence. “Violence occurred this morning in Chad, with in particular the use of lethal weapons against demonstrators, which France condemns”, underlined the Quai d’Orsay, in a press release affirming that Paris plays “no role in these events”.
These clashes take place after the extension for two years of the “transition” which was to end on Thursday, October 20. But at the end of September, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno was finally kept on as head of state until free and democratic elections, supposed to be held at the end of a second transition period and in which Mr. Déby will be able to stand. .
This maintenance, at the end of an inclusive and sovereign National Dialogue (DNIS) boycotted by a large part of the opposition, has completed the targeting of the political and armed opposition and embarrasses an international community which had nevertheless dubbed Mr. Déby he 18 months ago.
On April 20, 2021, when the death of Marshal Déby was announced, killed by rebels on his way to the front, the army proclaimed his son Mahamat Déby President of the Republic at the head of a junta of 15 generals, for an 18-month transition period leading up to elections.
Clouds of black smoke were visible and tear gas fire was regularly heard in the capital this morning, while barricades were erected in several parts of the city and tires were burned on the main roads, according to the AFP journalists in N’Djamena.
– “Facade Dialogue” –
The demonstration was banned on Wednesday by the authorities.
“I went out to demonstrate to denounce this facade dialogue to perpetuate a system and demand a change of power. In 31 years, we have not seen any positive change in our country,” Abass Mahamat told AFP. 35 years.
In the center of the capital, the businesses of the central market have lowered the curtain. “We were told that there is a demonstration in the city and I came like the other colleagues to stay in front of my store to avoid looting,” Mahamat Mboudou told AFP, staring at his phone. to follow the events in the south of the city.
In the 6th arrondissement, an opposition stronghold where Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo’s home is also located, the streets are deserted. Tires, tree trunks, heaps of bricks, litter the streets, noted another AFP journalist. Schools and universities are closed.
The headquarters of Mr. Kebzabo’s party, the National Union for Development and Renewal (UNDR), was targeted by protesters and was “partly burnt down”, the vice-president told AFP. of the party, Célestin Topona.
A historic opponent of Idriss Déby Itno, who ruled the country with an iron fist for 30 years, Mr. Kebzabo joined the government appointed by the military junta led by the son of the former leader 18 months ago. ‘State. He was appointed head of government on October 12.
“They are shooting at us. They are killing our people. The soldiers of the only general who refused to honor his word and today is the end of 18 months, this is how he intends to install the dynasty by killing the people”, said in a message on Twitter Success Masra, one of the main opponents of the Transformers party, which had launched a call for peaceful demonstrations on Wednesday.
