Is there an attempt to take control of the National Human Rights Commission? In any case, this is what its president Mahamat Nour Ibedou fears. While the CNDH is in the process of being renewed, he believes that its mandate is being illegally shortened, and sees this as a negative signal as the country approaches the end-of-transition elections. The president of the committee in charge of renewal within the transitional assembly assures for his part that he is sticking to the law and a decision of the Supreme Court.
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Seized by the president of the National Transitional Council Haroun Kabadi, the Supreme Court of Chad ruled on January 10 that the mandates of the eight commissioners of the CNDH (out of eleven) expire on February 12, and that it is up to the ad hoc committee of the CNT to provide for their replacement. Elections have already been organized within certain corporations.
Notified of this decision, Mahamat Nour Ibedou believes for his part that he was elected in 2022 for four years, and not only to complete the current mandate of previous president Oumar Djidda. According to him, the Supreme Court’s decision violates the principle of irremovability of members of the Commission established by the 2018 law.
Above all, Mahamat Nour Ibedou sees a political significance in this situation. As the elections at the end of the transition approach, he speaks of “instructions” from the presidency to sideline him and reduce the independence of the CNDH. He emphasizes that the report on the events of “Black Thursday” of October 2022, critical of the authorities, had brought him under strong pressure.
But for the president of the CNT ad hoc committee, Jacques Laouhingamaye Dingaomaibe, Mahamat Nour Ibedou’s arguments are not admissible. He believes that the Supreme Court has “decided” the question of interpretation of the law, and that its decision is binding on everyone.