The situation is increasingly chaotic in N’Djamena, the Chadian capital, where the army has been sitting for 48 hours. This Wednesday, February 28, the main opponent of the junta was killed in an army assault against the headquarters of his party, accused by the government of having carried out a deadly attack the day before against the premises of the intelligence services. L’Express takes stock.
Heavy fire in broad daylight
“It was 1:33 p.m. Wednesday February 28 in N’Djamena when bursts of automatic weapons and dull explosions woke up the city center of the Chadian capital, hitherto crushed by the heat,” reports the correspondent of the World. At the same time, the telephone network is severely disrupted while the mobile Internet, mainly used by Chadians, is completely interrupted, note journalists from Agence France Presse. In the space of a few hours, the capital was deserted by its inhabitants and besieged by heavily armed defense and security forces.
The deployment of the army as well as the deterioration of the situation in the streets of N’Djamena come the day after a deadly attack, which left two dead according to the government, carried out against the headquarters of internal intelligence, explains the newspaper Young Africa. Heavy gunfire in broad daylight this Wednesday was heading towards the headquarters of the Socialist Party Without Borders (PSF), one of the opposition parties. At that time, the defense and security forces had just attacked the headquarters of this party in an attempt to capture its president, Yaya Dillo, accused by the government of having instigated the attack on the watches against intelligence.
The cousin of the president of the transition accused
In its press release, the government refers to “a deliberate attack by the accomplices of this individual, carried out by elements of the PSF and, at their head, the president of this movement Yaya Dillo”, against the offices of the National Security Agency. “I was not present,” assured AFP yesterday Yaya Dillo, fierce opponent of power and expected presidential candidate, who denies his involvement and denounces a “lie”. According to the prosecutor of the N’Djamena high court, he died on Wednesday, after the attack by defense and security forces on his party headquarters.
Yaya Dillo was not just any opponent, however. He is the cousin of Mahamat Idriss Déby, the current president of the transition who took charge of the country upon the death of his father Idriss Déby in 2021. A regime under which Yaya Dillo was already an opponent. The power of Idriss Déby senior criticized him for having accused the First Lady of corruption, but in reality feared his candidacy.
Yaya Dillo was also accused of the attack on February 19 of the President of the Supreme Court, Samir Adam Annour, in the court’s premises, denounced as an “assassination attempt”. An ideal culprit according to the Chadian authorities, while the judge was preparing to reject Yaya Dillo’s candidacy for the presidential election.
Unrest before the election
These disturbances at intelligence headquarters and then at the opposition party headquarters occurred the day after the announcement of the calendar for the presidential election in Chad, the first round of which will take place on May 6. These elections thus announce the end of a three-year military transition period. On April 20, 2021, General Mahamat Idriss Déby was proclaimed by the army president of the transition, at the head of a junta of 15 generals, after the death of his father Idriss Déby Itno, killed by rebels while surrendering at the front, according to the junta. He immediately promised to return power to civilians by organizing elections after 18 months and later assured that he would not run, but the deadline was ultimately pushed back by two years.
Thursday, the situation remains uncertain in the streets of N’Djamena. Roadblocks and a strong military presence are still in place around the headquarters of the Socialist Party Without Borders (PSF), AFP noted. Schools in the city center remained closed on Thursday and access to the Presidency of the Republic is currently blocked. The UN representative in Central Africa said in a statement on Wednesday that he was following “the events with great concern” and called on “all actors to show calm and restraint” in Chad, in this “last stage of its political transition.” .