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Leaders of ECCAS Urge the International Community to Support Chad's Transition

October 26, 2022

 

Heads of State and Government of ECCAS met in extraordinary session on 25 October 2022 to examine the situation in Chad, October 26, 2022

 

ECCAS urges international community to support Chad's transition

Journal du Chad, 26.10.2022

The request was made on the sidelines of the Second Extraordinary Session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).

The Heads of State and Government of ECCAS met in extraordinary session on 25 October 2022 to examine the situation in Chad. The current president of ECCAS, Félix Tshisekedi, urged: "the member countries of this subregional organization, to invest in accompanying Chad and Chadians in their efforts to restore constitutional and republican normality after the tragic events that occurred in N'Djamena on October 20, which caused deaths and many injuries. "

In the document that sanctions the work, ECCAS, for its part, calls on Chad's bilateral and multilateral partners, particularly the United Nations and the AU, to maintain and strengthen their diplomatic, financial, material and technical support necessary for the transition process in Chad.

The President of the DRC, Félix Tshisekedi, who is also President of ECCAS, has been designated as facilitator for the political transition in Chad. The institution is counting on him to bring together the opposition and the power in place for a better management of the transition.

ECCAS urges international community to support Chad's transition (journaldutchad.com)

Chad: a 7-day national mourning decreed in memory of the victims of October 20

Journal du Chad, 25.10.2022

The Chadian President of the transition, Mahamat Idriss Deby has decreed 7 days of national mourning in memory of those killed during the demonstrations of October 20, 2022.

More than 50 people lost their lives as a result of demonstrations on 20 October to demand the departure of Mahamat Idriss Deby. Hundreds of injuries were also reported. The dead are mostly the demonstrators victims of the repression of the forces of order and defense. Some police officers also died on the same day. In memory of the missing, the president of the transition announces a national mourning of seven days.

"We will bury our dead in pain but with dignity. We must treat our wounded in solidarity. A mourning of 7 days will be observed throughout the national territory from Tuesday, October 25, 2022 in memory of our compatriots who died during these tragic and regrettable events. These words were spoken by Mahamat Idriss Deby at the end of the address to the nation on October 24, 2022.

The 20 October demonstration was initiated by some political parties and civil society organizations. To ask Mahamat Idriss Deby to hand over power to civilians after 18 months of transition.

Chad: a 7-day national mourning decreed in memory of the victims of October 20 (journaldutchad.com)

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Chad: address of the transitional president to the ECCAS Conference of Heads of State

Journal du Chad, 26.10.2022

Below is the speech delivered by Mahamat Idriss Deby at the 2nd Extraordinary Session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of ECCAS held in Kinshasa.

Your Excellency Mr. FELIX ANTOINE TSHISEKEDI TSHILOMBO, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, current Chairman of ECCAS; Excellencies Ladies and Gentlemen, Heads of State and Government of ECCAS; Plural of madame; Dear Ministers; Mr. President of the ECCAS Commission; Plural of madame; Plural of Monsieur;

I would like, first of all, to express my heartfelt thanks and my high appreciation to My Brother, President FELIX ANTOINE TSHISEKEDI TSHILOMBO, CURRENT PRESIDENT OF ECCAS, for having taken the initiative to invite us to this extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of our Community, in the format of the Council for Peace and Security of Central Africa, to discuss the situation regarding the transition process in the Republic of Chad, and to congratulate him on his enlightened leadership.

I take this opportunity to welcome the participation of the Heads of State and Government of ECCAS in this Summit, and to thank them for their support and accompaniment to the transition process in Chad, since its establishment in April 2021, the day after the tragic death of Marshal of Chad IDRISS DEBY ITNO (Peace be upon his soul).

The holding of the ECCAS Extraordinary Summit on 4 June 2021 in Brazzaville, Congo, was sufficient testimony to the interest you attach to the situation in my country and the well-being of its people.

To the Chairman of the Commission, to all brotherly and friendly countries, to the technical and financial partners, I address my sincere gratitude and thanks for their commitment and the multifaceted contributions they continue to make to my country for the success of its transition.

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen.

Allow me to say how important I am of the importance of this meeting, which is taking place at the end of the first phase of Chad's transition.

It represents an appropriate and appropriate opportunity for us to address the many issues of the day and to have constructive and frank consultation on the threshold of the second phase of the transition process under way in Chad.

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen;

Our meeting is also, unfortunately, taking place in the aftermath of the tragic events that have occurred in my country, within the framework of a well-planned armed insurrection against the institutions of the Republic.

Indeed, on 20 and 21 October, serious and unfortunate events took place in our capital N'Djamena, but also in several other major cities of the country. Many of our compatriots lost their lives and others were injured. Justice is working to provide the necessary light to locate responsibilities.

A real insurrection meticulously prepared whose perpetrators attacked police stations, the homes of political figures, the headquarters of political parties. They targeted people deemed hostile or neutral to their plans.

They set fire to vehicles and destroyed public and private property. Even worse, they killed dozens of women and men in cold blood, including several members of the security forces.

These events almost plunged our country into a full-blown civil war had it not been for the firm and appropriate reaction of the Government, which quickly assumed all its responsibilities to restore full law and order.

It is therefore in dismay, but also in dignity and solidarity, that we are burying our martyrs and caring for our wounded.

We have declared a 7-day national mourning in memory of our cowardly murdered compatriots.

Also, several judicial investigations are opened to shed light, establish the facts and locate responsibilities in transparency and the greatest rigour.

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen;

All the major actions provided for in the Transition Roadmap have been implemented within the required deadlines, with its two key points, namely the Pre-Dialogue that led to the Doha Agreement, signed on 8 August 2022, between the Government and the Politico-Military, and the Inclusive and Sovereign National Dialogue, held from 20 August to 5 October 2022 in N'Djamena.

Of course, the broad-based Government that we had set up has endeavoured to ensure peace, security and the inviolability of our territorial integrity, while ensuring that the legitimate expectations of our peoples are met in the face of the vagaries of daily life. But aware that nothing can be achieved without the effectiveness of peace, all the attention of the government was focused on the success of the Inclusive National Dialogue that we had declared Sovereign.

Indeed, the Inclusive and Sovereign National Dialogue, which constitutes a decisive turning point in the conduct of the transition in Chad, brought together more than 1500 participants, from all corporations, representing the Chadian population and was able to identify relevant recommendations and resolutions related to themes relating to peace, social cohesion and national reconciliation; the form of the state, the constitution, institutional reforms and the electoral process; fundamental rights and freedoms; sectoral public policies and societal issues.

At the end of this Dialogue, the participants, in all objectivity, decided, sovereignly, to commit the country to a second phase of transition by revising the Transitional Charter, thus enshrining the modification of the organs of the transition and its extension for a maximum period of 24 months.

As we stressed at the end of this Dialogue, this first phase has enabled us to ensure the continuity of the State, guarantee peace, tranquility and the security of the populations, preserve the territorial integrity of our country and safeguard the international sovereignty of the Republic of Chad.

However, it should be pointed out that there was a minority who opted not to take part in this historic meeting, but this is, isn't it, part of the rules of the democratic game where unanimity is never the rule! As Chad is a democracy, it cannot be spared.

Of course, the door to dialogue is always open to allow all our brothers and sisters to reconsider their choice and join the second phase of the process. It is with this in mind that we have solemnly committed ourselves to the release of all political prisoners held in our prisons.

The same spirit of consensus, dialogue and transparency will be privileged, so that the conduct of the second phase of the transition can contribute to the strengthening of our democracy.

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen;

We have begun this new stage with the establishment of a Transitional Government of National Unity, which is now working on the implementation of ambitious specifications, including the constitutional referendum that will decide the form of the State and the organization of free, transparent and democratic elections, in order to ensure the return to the constitutional order so eagerly awaited by the Chadian people.

The implementation of several commitments in the main areas of socio-economic infrastructure, the maintenance and safeguarding of the internal security of our country, are the major challenges that also await this Government.

In this regard, Chad remains resolutely committed to the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process, which represents a lasting solution to resolve the security issue in our country. We await various contributions from all friendly countries and technical and financial partners to support the Government of the Republic of Chad in the implementation of this process.

For all the actions selected in the specifications, it was decided to set up a Monitoring and Evaluation Committee that will ensure the effectiveness and conformity of their implementation.

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen.

I know how much your active accompaniment has been decisive in the evolution of the first phase of the transition, thanks to Your relevant Instructions recorded in the Declaration of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of ECCAS of 4 June 2021.

These Instructions are still relevant when we know that the measures adopted aim, and I quote, at "the necessary support for the success of the political transition until the establishment of the Authorities and Institutions resulting from future democratic elections".

Today we have the opportunity to revisit these Instructions and, if necessary, strengthen them further, in order to make them operational for this final phase of the transition.

Thus, the specifications devolved to the Transitional Government of National Unity require considerable material and financial resources that Chad will not be able to support alone. This is why your Instructions of 4 June 2021, regarding the mobilization of financial, material and technical resources, are decisive for the last phase of this transition.

As for the security environment in which Chad operates, it remains very worrying in view of the rise of terrorism and its expansion beyond the Sahel and our subregion. The question of mercenarism is being raised with insistence. It leaves no one indifferent in our Community.

That is why we must remain united and vigilant, engage and pool our response resources to effectively face all these security challenges.

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen.

Chad is also experiencing one of the most dramatic consequences of climate change in its history, through unprecedented floods. These floods are very accentuated in the city of N'Djamena and its surroundings, and have already caused thousands of victims.

We take this opportunity to inform this august assembly and to ask for your various assistance on behalf of these victims who are facing a painful ordeal.

In conclusion, I would like to assure you that Chad can count on your commitment and on the support of the international community to accompany it in this final phase of the transition.

Chad: address of the transitional president to the ECCAS Conference of Heads of State (journaldutchad.com)

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Chad: The National Union of Young Executives for Consultation and Peaceful Cohabitation calls for appeasement

By  Perline Noudjimadji  -

Tchad InfoOctober 26, 2022 0 9

Through a press briefing made this Wednesday, October 26, 2022, the National Union of Young Executives for Consultation and Peaceful Cohabitation (UNJCP) calls for appeasement following the events of October 20. At the same time, it condemns the messages of hatred circulating in Chad and particularly in N'Djamena.

"The UNJCP condemns in the strongest terms the messages of hatred conveyed by some individuals through social networks. Because, these people who glorify hatred have the sole purpose of creating a conflict between peaceful Chadian citizens without knowing that the Chadian people have long suffered from the horrors of conflicts in the past," said Sidick Sougui Lony, President of the UNJCP.

He calls on young people to know where to set foot. "As a youth and civil society organization, the UNJCP once again calls on youth not to be guided and deceived by politicians or political promises. To the leaders of the political parties, we ask them to play the card of appeasement. Disputes must be settled in a serene and friendly atmosphere," he said.

From the above and for good cohabitation, says Sidick Sougui Lony, the UNJCP suggests extending the provisions to combat online hate; condemn hate messages on the Internet; to file persons responsible for advocating hatred; remove hateful messages; to withdraw "without hesitation" the approvals of political parties that glorify hatred and division; to formally prohibit coalitions, movements, and other names that bring together civil society and political parties in accordance with the texts that govern civil society "to restore the apolitical character of civil society as a whole".

Chad: The National Union of Young Executives for Consultation and Peaceful Cohabitation calls for appeasement | Tchadinfos.com

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Here's why Transformers Vice President Moustapha Masri resigned

By  Ndalet Pohol  

Tchad infos, October 26, 2022 0 214

In a statement today, one of the vice-presidents of the Transformers party, Moustapha Masri, announced his resignation from the party.

It is the heart "bruised" and "painful" following the bloody repression of the demonstrations of October 20, which left more than 50 dead, hundreds of wounded, material damage, that Moustapha Masri says to speak.

He says he got involved in politics in the name of justice, equality and equity for a better and better life. This, in unity, peace and acceptance of our political differences. But also our "differences as a person".

According to him, this commitment and the quest for its realization, "we wanted it on a peaceful basis, in compliance with the laws and texts in force. Our DNA is peaceful and our actions are pacifist."

Justifying his withdrawal from Les Transformers, Moustapha Masri believes that this struggle has been diverted. "Today, more than ever, under the weight of several andogenic and exogenous factors, slowly our struggle has been diverted and diverted from its fundamental values. The conquest of power ipso facto of absolute at the expense of our values has taken over," he said.

"In the name of these values of unity, peace, democracy and peaceful struggle, we take the decision to dissociate ourselves and reject this new path taken of which we do not recognize ourselves," he announced his resignation. The now former founding member of the party Les Transformers appeals to his former comrades committed to the ideals of unity, fraternity and peace to dissociate themselves from the direction that the struggle is taking. It calls on the Government to give priority to dialogue in order to consolidate democratic gains and national unity.

 

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Saleh Kebzabo and the Twelve Labours of Hercules

Le Chad Anthropus, Jeune Afrique, October 26, 2022

By Eric Topona Mocnga

Eric Topona Mocnga

As soon as appointed and already facing a major crisis after demonstrations were bloodily repressed... Coming from the ranks of the opposition, will the Prime Minister manage to make people forget the convulsions that have shaken the country since the death of Idriss Déby Itno?

Of all the Prime Ministers that Chad has known since its accession to independence in 1960, the head of the Government of National Accord of October 12, 2022, Saleh Kebzabo, is certainly the one who faces the most difficult political challenges. He has a Herculean charge, which the most skeptical observers consider a priori impossible to bear.

No state of grace

The new Prime Minister will not have known any state of grace, including during the probationary period of the first hundred days. History will remember that its very first Council of Ministers was held at the Pink Palace, while on 20 October, N'Djamena and other cities were the scene of harshly repressed demonstrations. This unexpected and dramatic crisis is in addition to previous convulsions. Saleh Kebzabo will have to succeed in a tour de force: to draw his roadmap in a strongly degraded socio-political climate.

This veteran politician, however, can boast of having the makings of the function. Thanks to his fine and in-depth knowledge of the state apparatus, as well as his practice of the establishment, he seems best placed to hold the rudder of the boat Chad, in these crucial moments when the latter has not emerged from the troubled waters in which he suddenly found himself after the tragic death of Marshal Idriss Déby Itno.

Difficult alchemy

Another glimmer of hope lies in the composition of the government, born of a complicated alchemy. First of all, the choice of a Prime Minister from a political side opposed to that of the Head of State is, in itself, a guarantee of openness. Despite the appointment to regal posts of some prominent figures of the Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS, the former presidential party), equally prominent members of politico-armed groups have entered the government.

These include Tom Erdimi, of the Union of Resistance Forces (UFR, one of the three main rebel groups), who rose to the rank of Minister of State for Higher Education and Research; and Mahamat Assileck Halata, Vice-President of the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), signatory of the Doha Agreement, appointed Minister of Spatial Planning and Urban Development.

Dressing wounds

Given the expectations raised by his appointment, Saleh Kebzabo and his team must meet three major and urgent challenges, on a triple level: temporal, political and societal.

Temporally, his government must heal wounds, some of which date back to the early days of contemporary Chad. Given the complexity of the history and, above all, the political sociology of the country of Toumaï, this is far from being a sinecure.

During this same sequence, it is up to his team to organize, for the first time, free and transparent general elections, the verdict of which will be binding on all. This mission is all the more crucial because the constraints are both temporal and political. The organization of consensual elections is the sine qua non for the establishment of lasting peace in Chad.

However, the political history of contemporary Africa teaches us that governments of national unity resulting from peace agreements and formed after periods of belligerence have always collapsed when one of the parties to the agreements called into question the electoral process that followed them. The Angolan precedent, between Jonas Savimbi's Unita and José Eduardo dos Santos' MPLA, is just one illustration among many.

On the political level, Saleh Kebzabo must inscribe his action within the framework of the roadmap that the Head of State of the Transition has drawn at the end of the N'Djamena conference. This leaves the door of dialogue open to political parties and civil society actors who have opted for the empty chair policy.

The new Prime Minister must also consolidate the new socio-political architecture built at the end of the Doha negotiations and the Inclusive and Sovereign National Dialogue (DNIS).

Social cohesion

Finally, at the societal level, it is up to his government to strengthen social cohesion and create the conditions for true harmony. Indeed, the task to be tackled by the new Government team is that of building peace in the hearts of Chadians. In post-conflict periods, lasting peace is only possible if the people, in the diversity of their origins and political affiliations, take ownership of resolutions or recommendations taken at peace forums, such as that of the DNIS.

This eminent task will not, of course, depend solely on the Government of National Unity. All political parties, civil society actors who signed the Charter of the Transition, intellectuals and opinion makers will have to take part.

As the new team is responsible for conducting the DNIS's policy, it has the historic responsibility of creating the conditions essential for an appropriation of the new architecture of the State and the Nation, resulting from these foundations of the refoundation.

This is, without a doubt, one of the most important works of Hercules that falls to the new Prime Minister and his team today.

#TCHAD #Politique : Saleh Kebzabo and the twelve labours of Hercules - Le Tchadanthropus-tribune

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