Published on: 11.07.2022 – 13:51
Chadian authorities have accepted that an international fact-finding mission will be dispatched to shed light on the October 20 violence, where anti-transition demonstrations have officially left around fifty dead and 300 injured. A mediation mission from the Economic Community of Central African States has been on the road since October 25.
With our special correspondent in Ndjamena, Sebastian Nemet
“The truth is important. There was one death. Each camp gives its version. The population must know,” explains Didier Mazenga Mukanzu. For the Congolese Minister for Regional Integration, one of the two special representatives of ECCAS, “you have to know who sent whom and what has to be done”.
Hence the idea of an international fact-finding mission. Mission accepted in principle by Chad. “Cooperation from strangers can help. ECCAS is in its role,” says a Chadian diplomatic source. But the details are yet to be determined. “The idea is validated, but will these investigators be independent? Whether they will be integrated into a Chadian team remains to be seen,” a Chadian official said.
Success opponent Masra left the country
In any case, the ECCAS delegation in Ndjamena was not idle. She met, among others, the Prime Minister, the head of diplomacy, diplomats, religious. “We shouldn’t dramatize. Chad must go to elections. And we have to support it,” says Didier Mazenga Mukanzu, casually hailing “the desire to move forward” shown by all parties…
ECCAS is also in contact with Chadian opponents outside the country. “We will see them, listen to their complaints and pass them on to Ndjamena,” confides the Congolese mediator, who hopes in the long term to meet all parties in Kinshasa…
According to a person close to the Chadian government, for example, the opponent Succès Masra has left the country. “We know where he’s from. The security forces were under orders to guarantee his safety. Therefore, no one objected to his release. He is not a prisoner,” says one person close to power.
Eventually, ECCAS left a small team in N’djamena responsible for obtaining the list and whereabouts of those arrested, demanding that families be notified and the innocent released.