Chad - October 2022

At the beginning of October, a national dialogue reconciliation forum convened by the military junta decided that the transition to civilian rule should be extended by two years (it had already been 18 months since the unconstitutional change of government), and that the junta leader, Mahamat Idriss Déby, should be eligible to run for election as president. The prime minister and government resigned days later and were replaced. On 20 October – the date that the military junta had originally promised to hand over power to a civilian administration, large numbers of demonstrators gathered in several cities, including the capital city N’Djamena. State security (including the police and army) fired on the demonstrators, killing a large number of people (perhaps more than 80). They also beat many others, and arrested hundreds of people. A government spokesperson also claimed that 15 security service personnel had been killed in the violence.

Sources: Voice of America (AFP), Deutsche Welle, Human Rights Watch, News24 (AFP)