Arrests in Chad after violent anti-France demo

Five people were arrested in Chad on Monday following violent protests against France, which demonstrators accused of supporting the country’s military junta.

Seven Total petrol stations were attacked, and a dozen police officers were injured in the unrest that erupted in the capital N’Djamena on Saturday, according to a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Five leaders of the protest” have been arrested, “and are being held at the headquarters of the domestic security service,” the source said.

General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, Chad’s self-proclaimed transitional president, called for an end to the disturbances and to rumours that France planned to redeploy troops to Chad.

Chad has been under military rule since his father, 30-year president Idriss Deby Itno, was killed in April 2021 during operations to crush rebels in the north of the country.

The younger Deby, a four-star general, took the helm at the head of a 15-member group of senior officers.

The takeover was widely accepted by Western countries, led by the former colonial power France, which sees Chad as a close ally in its fight against jihadists in the Sahel.

Other recent coups in Africa — in Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso — have encountered condemnation or regional sanctions.

Max Loalngar, a spokesman for the Wakit Tamma opposition group which called for the protest, confirmed that five people had been arrested.

“They are not involved in the acts of vandalism. They have been wrongfully arrested,” he said.

“The police cleared out the (main) demonstration area and sporadic demonstrations then broke out afterwards — we are not responsible,” he said.

Several opposition parties have called for the release of those arrested.

An AFP journalist said hundreds took part in the demonstration and at least two French flags were burned.

On Monday, a demonstration gathering hundreds of high-school students, many of them chanting “France out,” was dispersed by police in N’Djamena, an AFP reporter saw.

There were no arrests or casualties, a police official told AFP.

Late Sunday, Communications Minister Abderamane Koullamallah condemned the violence the previous day as “extremely serious… people will be held to account for their acts”.

At a security meeting on Monday, Deby said: “It is time for this to stop. It is also time to stop the false and unfounded allegations circulating about French forces redeploying inside the country.”

France has thousands of troops in the Sahel, including in Chad, as part of its anti-jihadist Barkhane force.

But in February, France announced it would withdraw its troops from Mali and deploy them elsewhere after falling out with the junta in Bamako, which has woven close ties with the Kremlin.

Chad’s military rulers announced after their takeover that they would hold “free and democratic elections” within 18 months after staging a nationwide forum on the country’s problems.

The “national reconciliation dialogue,” which was supposed to begin on May 10, has been postponed.

Armed groups failed to reach an agreement on a common stance during a “pre-dialogue” meeting intended to entice them into the process, and the forum was boycotted by opposition political parties. France has urged Chad to hold the talks as soon as possible.