At least five people were killed in Chad as demonstrations against the ruling transitional military council turned violent on Tuesday, reported Africa News.
N’Djamena’s prosecutor Youssouf Tom confirmed to AFP news agency that there were four deaths in the capital including one killed by the demonstrators on Tuesday. One person was killed in Chad’s Moundou city, 400km (250 miles) to the south, another prosecutor said.
However, a local NGO, Chadian Convention for the Defence of Human Rights, reported nine fatalities in total– seven in the capital and two in the south. According to the NGO, 36 people were also wounded and about 12 arrested.
“We denounce and condemn this massacre … (and) the disproportionate use of weapons of war against protesters,” the NGO said.
The transitional military council came to power last week after the sudden death of President Idriss Deby who succumbed to wounds sustained on the frontlines in the country’s north, where the Chadian army was fighting advancing rebels. The council, headed by Deby’s son Mahamat Idriss Deby, who was declared president, will oversee an 18-month transition to elections.
In his televised statement on Tuesday, Mahamat Idriss Déby did not mention anything about the demonstrations. He pledged to fight terrorism and respect all its international obligations.
“Chad will continue to hold its ground and assume its responsibilities in the fight against terrorism and will respect all its international commitments,” the 37-year-old general said.
He also promised in Tuesday’s televised speech to organize an inclusive national dialogue within an 18-month transition period.
Meanwhile, the opposition and civil society, who denounce a “dynastic succession” to power, had called for the rallies, even as the army on Monday appointed a civilian politician, Albert Pahimi Padacke, as prime minister of a transitional government.
The international community is forcing the military council to hand over power to civilians as soon as possible.
