BAt least 100 people have been killed and 300 others injured in protests against the transitional government in Chad, in central Africa. Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo announced this at a press conference on Thursday evening. Thousands of people took to the streets in the capital N’Djamena and three smaller towns. According to Kebzabo, it was an armed uprising that security forces should have put down. He imposed a curfew between midnight and 6 a.m. local time.
On October 10, President General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno extended a transitional period for the formation of a new government by 24 months. The decision provoked resentment within the opposition and civil society. The government had previously banned the protests.
The African Union condemned the violence. At its last meeting at the end of September, the AU Peace and Security Council warned the military government not to extend the 18-month transition phase that had actually been agreed. In addition, the AU demanded that Idriss Déby Itno and all other members of the military council not stand for future elections.
In a statement, the French Foreign Ministry spoke of the “use of deadly weapons against demonstrators” without providing any further information. France also denied any involvement in what happened in Chad. Claims are repeatedly circulating, particularly on social media, that the interim president, who was sworn in a good week and a half ago, is being supported by France.
Oil-rich but poverty-stricken Chad, with a population of just under 17 million, has been in a political transition phase since the death of long-term ruler Idriss Déby Itno, the father of the recently sworn-in president. According to official information, Idriss Déby Itno was killed in April 2021 in serious clashes with the FACT rebel movement in the north of the country.
