Kinshasa – An 11-nation summit of Central African countries on Tuesday appointed DR Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi as intermediary in troubled Chad, where dozens were killed last week during protests at the military’s grip on power.
Leaders of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) agreed to name Tshisekedi “facilitator in the transition process” – the official term for Chad’s planned return to civilian rule.
The summit came five days after clashes between Chadian police and protestors in which 50 people died, including a dozen members of the security forces, according to a government toll.
Chad, an ECCAS member, was represented by Mahamat Idriss Deby, who was appointed “transitional president” by a national forum earlier this month.
The 38-year-old five-star general has been in power since his iron-fisted father, Idriss Deby Itno, was killed in an operation against rebels in April 2021.
His junta initially vowed to hold elections within 18 months – a deadline that has now been extended by two years.
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Deby also once pledged not to be a candidate in the future ballot, but the national forum declared he was entitled to take part.
Tshisekedi, in an opening speech to the summit, called last week’s bloodshed a “dramatic mistake.”
Hopes for national consensus, which had been the purported goal of the Chadian forum, “seem to have shattered,” he said.
“The political crisis… has unfortunately revived,” Tshisekedi said.
“The task now is to get the transition back on track,” he said, before initiating talks behind closed doors.
After his appointment by the summit, Tshisekedi promised he would “spare no effort” to carry out his mission.
The summit’s final communique issued an “appeal for peace to the Chadian government and people” and condemned what it called violence for political ends.
It also urged Chad’s partners, particularly the United Nations and African Union (AU), “to maintain and step up their diplomatic, financial, material and technical support, (which is) needed for the transition process.”
‘Insurrection’
Thursday’s protests had been called by opposition campaigners to mark the date when the junta had initially promised to hand over power.
But in a televised address late Monday, Deby said a “meticulously prepared insurrection” had taken place with the “support of foreign powers,” which he did not name.
A Geneva-based NGO, the World Organization against Torture (OMCT), has given a provisional death toll of at least 80, in the capital N’Djamena and the southern towns of Moundou, Doba, Koumra and Bebedjia.
“Young people were reportedly summarily executed there this morning,” the OMCT said on Monday, adding that hundreds had been arrested, and some tortured.
The AU and European Union (EU) last week issued statements strongly condemning the crackdown and attacking violation of freedom of speech and assembly.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@FelixUdps
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