Chad violence: At least 60 people died when Chadian security forces opened fire on anti-government demonstrators in the country’s two cities on Thursday, according to a government spokesman and a morgue official.
Curfew imposed
Curfew was imposed after the violence, that followed demonstrations in the central African nation against interim leader Mahamat Idriss Deby’s (Pic above)) two-year extension of his power.
Chad has seen little public dissent earlier. The previous regime of Deby’s father was uneventful and he ruled for more than three decades until his assassination last year.
Meanwhile, countries like France and the African Union condemned the security crackdown on the demonstrators.
Amnesty appeal
Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s regional director for West and Central Africa, called on the Chadian authorities “to immediately cease the excessive use of force against protesters.”
“The authorities must take immediate steps to investigate and bring to justice those responsible for unlawful killings,” she said.
While Chadian government spokesman Aziz Mahamat Saleh said 30 people were dead in the capital, N’Djamena, organizers of the march claimed 40 died in the firing and many were wounded by bullets as well. There was no independent corroboration of the figures given by the two sides.
In Moundou, Chad’s second-largest city, 32 more protesters were killed, according to an official in the city’s morgue. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said more than 60 people were wounded.
Protests were also held in the southern Chadian towns of Doba and Sarh. These were the deadliest anti-government protests since Deby took over in the wake of his father’s assassination 18 months ago. Officials said the late President Idriss Deby Itno was killed by rebels while visiting Chadian troops on the battlefield in the country’s north in April 2021.
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