It is now official. Opposition leader Yaya Dillo Djerou Betchi was killed during clashes between his supporters and the defence and security forces.
This has been confirmed by Oumar Kedellaye, the Public Prosecutor at the Ndjamena High Court.
In a statement issued on 29 February, he said that the President of the Socialist Party without Borders (PSF) had died as a result of injuries sustained when security forces stormed his party’s headquarters.
On the night of 27 February, a member of the executive committee of the opposition party was arrested by agents of the espionage and counter-espionage service. He has been identified as the instigator of the attempted assassination of the President of the Supreme Court on 19 February.
In retaliation, according to the government, Yaya Dillo and his supporters attacked the headquarters of the National State Security Agency (ANSE). The government spokesman and the public prosecutor reported that the attack left some people dead and others wounded.
Withdrawn with his supporters to his party’s headquarters, they faced an assault by the security forces in the afternoon of 29 February. The confrontation with heavy weapons caused panic among the people of the
capital’s 2nd and 4th districts. The situation remained confused until late at night. In the city centre and around the party headquarters, barricades were erected by the forces of law and order. Light armoured
vehicles were positioned around the Presidency.
The same day, the President of the Chadian transition, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, convened a security meeting on the ANSE attack.
The meeting brought together members of the government, the presidential cabinet and the main military, security and justice officials.
According to a press release issued by Communication Minister Abderaman Koulamallah, the Chadian Head of State stressed the importance of swiftly apprehending the perpetrators of this reprehensible act, recalling that “no citizen is above the law.” He also ordered a “systematic general search of the town, with the exception of people with legal immunity.”
He urged those responsible for national security to “assume full responsibility and immediately arrest the perpetrators and accomplices of this attack against state institutions and bring them to justice immediately.”
By Thursday morning, calm had returned. However, the Internet remains cut off.
CA/ac/fss/abj/APA