Several demonstrations, among the deadliest in the history of Chad, took place in different cities on Thursday, in particular in N’Djamena the capital and in Moundou (South), the second city of the country. They left “about fifty” dead and “more than 300” injured, according to Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo, who decreed a curfew from “6 p.m. to 6 a.m.” in N’Djamena, Monudou and two other cities. until the “total restoration of order”.
The demonstrators contested the recent extension of the political transition period and the retention in power of Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno as head of state.
Relative calm reigned Friday morning in the southern districts of the capital where most of the clashes took place, noted an AFP journalist. Debris of burnt tires from makeshift barricades littered the ground of some streets. Many businesses had not raised their curtains and traffic was picking up timidly.
Several law enforcement patrols, including some hooded officers, were seen aboard 4x4s to deter possible protests. In Chagoua, south of the capital, women dressed in yellow vests and equipped with brooms and pickaxes cleaned the streets, while the bus transport service gradually resumed.
Thursday, “I saw people gathered and I went home in fear with my children. They threw stones and set fire to the premises” of Prime Minister Kebzabo’s party, the National Union for Development and renewal (UNDR), said Suzanne Chamnone, 50, whose residence adjoins the headquarters.
“It was a declaration of war against our party. A group of a hundred people came with tires, gasoline. We were in the minority”, regretted Nestor Nahor, 40, UNDR activist who experienced the looting scene at the party headquarters located in the 7th arrondissement of N’Djamena.
The mobile internet network was disrupted in the south of the city, AFP journalists noted.
African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) “strongly condemned” the repression of the demonstrations, the first calling for “respect for human lives and property” and the second regretting “serious violations of the freedoms of expression and demonstration which weaken the ongoing transition process”. France, a key ally of N’Djamena, “condemned” the “violence and the use of lethal weapons against the demonstrators”.
The United States said four people were killed near the entrance to its embassy in N’Djamena, urging the parties to “de-escalate”.
– “Political fault” –
Calls to demonstrate had been launched since the beginning of the week, in particular by the opposition platform Wakit Tamma and the party Les Transformateurs, led by Success Masra, one of the main political opponents of Mr. Déby.
These two parties had boycotted the National Reconciliation Dialogue (DNIS) which had extended the transition to “free and democratic” elections by two years at the beginning of October and endorsed the possibility for Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno to stand there, 18 months after his seizure of power at the head of a military junta and despite commitments made to the international community.
The Prime Minister announced Thursday the suspension of “all public activity of political parties and civil society organizations”, including those of the Transformers and Wakit Tamma, a collective of opposition parties and civil society associations. These organizations are suspended for three months specify two decrees.
“Nothing will stop the Transformers”, reacted to AFP, Success Masra. “For three years we were prevented from exercising but no one succeeded,” he added, stressing that he wanted to continue his “fight for justice and equality”.
Contacted by AFP, the other opposition parties did not react.
After the Reconciliation Dialogue “the only thing the opposition could do to show its disagreement was to show its capacity for mobilization and that the regime is only able to respond to it with violence”, underlined to the AFP Roland Courson, researcher at Sciences Po Paris, who sees in this violent “repression” “a political fault of the government” risking “to undermine its credibility and its legitimacy”.
“The Chadian exception can no longer continue,” said Enrica Picco, Central Africa director for the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank. Mrs Picco regrets that the positions of the international community were not “strong enough” at the end of the Reconciliation Dialogue despite the non-respect of the commitments made by the government and considers that “the message must be passed on more firmly “.
