11 Dead, Over 200 Arrested As Chadians Continue Protest Against Military Junta
Protests continue in Chad as security forces kill 11, detain over 200 protesters in the country.
At least 11 persons have been killed and over 200 arrested in Chad since protests started against the Transitional Military Council (TMC) led by Mahatma Idriss Deby.
One of the several civil society organisations protesting against the junta in Chad, the Mouvement Citoyen le Temps (MCT), has condemned the repression of protesters by describing it as “a barbaric act.”
Protesters have been attacked in “N’Djamena, Moundou, Doba, Sarh and Mongo.”
“This repression occasioned 11 deaths by bullets, more than 250 persons wounded,” a communique by the MCT declared.
MCT said in the document that the “massive expression by the citizens … against foreign interference and the Transitional Military Council (TMC) shows the aspiration of Chadians for democratic change.”
The group called for the immediate release of detained protesters and an investigation into the repression.
The group insisted on a continuation of protests until justice is served and the country returns to civilian rule.
Meanwhile, a former Secretary General in the Idriss Deby administration, Ali Abdel Rhamane Haggar has called on the TMC to allow the populations to freely and peacefully demonstrate.
“Everybody cannot, must not have the same ideas, the same tastes, belong to the same party and the same religion. Differences are a decree by God. Let us respect the will of God,” Haggar said on Wednesday.
He said it would be a grandiose sign of appeasement if the TMC allowed people to demonstrate peacefully and only accompany them to ensure order.
“Don’t listen to those who dwell in the absurd, who have a nostalgia for brutality and single thought, who do not understand that the world changes and that the generations are no longer the same,” he said.
“We can surprise the world if we show proof of more empathy, less arrogance, less demonstration of force, less or an absence of repression and more wisdom,” Haggar added.
The newly-appointed Prime Minister, Pahimi Padacke Albert, on his part, has started holding consultations with leaders of political parties, civil society organisations as well as church leaders and other participants in the various aspects of national life with a view to forming a transitional government.
One of the leaders he met on Wednesday was the Secretary General of the Mouvement Patriotique du Salut (MPS), Mahamat Zen Bada.
According to the spokesperson of MPS, Jean Bernard Padare, the Prime Minister and Zen Bada did not discuss the formation of a transitional government because, to his party, the most important questions now are linked to security, democracy and dialogue.
The MPS spokesperson said for now, his party sticks to the Mongo Call by late president Idriss Deby in which he invited the people to dialogue, to pardon and for national cohesion.
The MPS Secretary General, Mahamat Zen Bada, reiterated the readiness of his party to help towards the success of the transition.
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