Tensions in Chad eased on Friday after a day of unprecedented violence during protests that killed around 50 people across the country.
The Chadian government announced an overnight curfew on Thursday after deadly clashes between police and demonstrators protesting the military’s seizure of power.
Chadian Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo put the official figure at around 50 dead and said most of the deaths occurred in N’Djamena and the towns of Moundou and Koumra, while more than 300 people were injured in the violence.
Kebzabo also announced the suspension of “all public activities” by major opposition groups, including the Transformers party and the Wakit Tamma civil society coalition.
In the southern districts of the capital, where most of the clashes took place, there was relative calm on Friday morning, although debris from burnt tires and the remains of makeshift street barricades littered the streets.
Police officers, some of them hooded, were seen sitting in vehicles to deter further protests.
In Chagoua, south of the capital, women in yellow vests, brooms and pickaxes cleaned the streets while bus services gradually resumed.
Local resident Suzanne Chamnone, 50, who lives next to the headquarters of Kebzabo’s party, the National Union for Development and Renewal (UNDR), said on Thursday she “saw people gathering and I went home with my children out of fear. They threw stones and set the (party) compound on fire”.
– ‘Kill our people’ –
The violence followed a national forum organized by military strongman Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, prolonging his stay in power.
The 38-year-old five-star general took office in April 2021 after his ironclad father Idriss Deby Itno, who had been in power for three decades, was killed in an anti-rebel operation.
The younger Deby has since angered many at home and embarrassed supporters abroad by staying in power beyond his originally promised deadline, which would have expired on Thursday.
“They shoot at us. They are killing our people,” Succes Masra, whose Transformers party was among the groups calling for the protest, said on Twitter on Thursday.
The United Nations said it “deplores the fatal use of force” and called for an investigation into reported human rights abuses.
The African Union and the European Union have also condemned the repression of the protests.
“It was a declaration of war against our party. A group of about 100 people came with tires and petrol. We were in the minority,” said UNDR activist Nestor Nahor, 40, who witnessed the looting at party headquarters in the 7th district of N’Djamena.
Internet access was cut off in the south of the city on Friday.
