As Chad recovers from the deadly crackdown on protests, Kinshasa is hosting an Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) summit on Tuesday (25 October) on the political situation in the country. 11 countries will be represented at these face-to-face meetings convened by Félix Tshisekedi, current president of the organization. While Ndjamena wants to obtain the support of ECCAS, the latter is above all seeking to appoint a mediator for the crisis.
The president of the Chadian transition Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno will himself be in Kinshasa on Tuesday at the extraordinary summit of ECCAS, to ask the Central African region for support and accompaniment to the continuation of the transition.
The remarks come from senior Chadian diplomats who admit that the massacres of October 20 are new elements which will weigh in the conclusions of the Heads of State. The president of the transition will have to justify himself for these events which left at least fifty dead and more than 300 injured, reports our correspondent in Ndjamena, Madjiasra Nako.
” It is the response to a coup d’etat, a insurrection Say Chadian officials, who intend to seek support from neighboring countries during the talks. The Chadian authorities also hope that support from the sub-region will enable them to avoid sanctions from the African Union.
A short, closed meeting
The meeting will not last long, sources in the Congolese presidency report to our correspondent in Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi. The work will take place behind closed doors, with the aim of achieving the designation of an ECCAS mediatorsays the Congolese presidency.
The presidents of Congo-Brazzaville Denis Sassou-Nguesso and of the Central African Republic Faustin Archange Touadéra have also confirmed their attendance.
To mark the way, the chairman of the African Union commission Moussa Faki Mahamat has been on Congolese soil since Sunday. As soon as he arrived, he crossed the Congo River to make contact with Denis Sassou-Nguesso, whose point of view counts, explains a diplomatic source.
Call for restraint
The debates will be fueled by the mission report of the President of the ECCAS Commission, the Angolan Gilberto da Piedade Verissimo, who was dispatched to Ndjamena over the weekend to see what happened and listen to certain actors. In Kinshasa, it will thus be a question of analyzing the report of the mission to have an overall view of the situation before acting.
Already, in his press release of October 21, Gilberto da Piedade Verissimo has called on Chadian political and social actors to show the greatest restraint and to favor peaceful methods of resolving political disputes.
► To read also: Chad: Relatives of deceased protesters are still waiting for their remains