Chad’s parliament on Tuesday extended by three months a state of emergency in three eastern regions hit by rebel violence and deadly inter-communal clashes. In August, President Idriss Deby had declared a state of emergency for three months in the Sila and Ouaddai regions bordering Sudan, where more than 50 people died that month in fighting between Arab cattle herders and settled farmers. He also declared a state of emergency in Tibesti, near the frontier with lawless Libya, from where illegal miners and rebels operate. The emergency is accompanied by a provincial curfew, a ban on riding motorbikes — which are often used for hit-and-run attacks — and a closure of Chad’s borders with Sudan and Libya. The vote was passed on Tuesday by 115 lawmakers. There were no dissenters and two MPs abstained, a ruling party lawmaker told AFP.
Eastern Chad is in the grip of a cycle of violence between nomadic camel herders and sedentary farmers from the Ouaddaian community. An armed group opposed to Deby, the Union of Resistance Forces (UFR), is based in the lawless deserts of southern Libya. In February, UFR fighters crossed into northeastern Chad in a column of 40 pickups before they were halted by several strikes from French warplanes based near the Chadian capital N’Djamena. Deby had blamed the violence in the affected areas partly on a horde of weapons being smuggled into the country from neighbouring states, including Libya.
Justice Minister Djimet Arabi said Tuesday’s extension was necessary because “certain zones are inaccessible during the rainy season” for the military, adding that the rains were expected to be over at the end of September. Rights experts have voiced concern that the emergency rule would lead to human rights abuses and gave unlimited powers to the security forces.
By AFP
