<\/p>\n
By Ali Aba Kaya and Djimet Wiche<\/p>\n
N\u2019Djamena, Chad \u2013 Five people were killed on Thursday when police clashed with demonstrators in the Chadian capital during a banned protest against the ruling military, an AFP journalist saw.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of demonstrators turned out to mark the date when the military had initially promised to hand over power \u2013 a spell that has been extended for another two years.<\/p>\n
An AFP reporter saw five bodies on the floor of the city\u2019s Union Chagoua Hospital, two of which were covered with the Chadian national flag and three with bloodied white sheets.<\/p>\n
The head doctor, Joseph Ampil, later confirmed to AFP that five individuals had \u201cdied from gunshots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palls of black smoke could be seen in some parts of the city and the crack of teargas grenades could be heard.<\/p>\n
Barricades were set up in several districts and tyres were set alight in the main avenues to block traffic.<\/p>\n
In an opposition stronghold, streets were deserted and littered with tree branches and piles of bricks. Schools and university establishments were closed, and many traders in the city centre lowered their shutters.<\/p>\n
The headquarters of Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo\u2019s UNDR party was also attacked by demonstrators \u201cand partially burned down,\u201d UNDR Vice President Celestin Topona told AFP.<\/p>\n France, Chad\u2019s former colonial power, condemned the violence, noting it featured \u201cthe use of lethal weapons against demonstrators.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFrance is not playing any part in these events, which lie strictly in Chad\u2019s domestic political domain,\u201d the foreign ministry said.<\/p>\n \u201cFalse information about France\u2019s purported involvement is baseless.\u201d<\/p>\n The Chadian Red Cross said it had deployed 10 teams to provide first aid and taken \u201cdozens\u201d of injured people to hospital.<\/p>\n There was no immediate official word on casualties. <\/p>\n The violence comes on the heels of a national forum organised by military strongman Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno that extended his stay in power.<\/p>\n The 38-year-old five-star general took over in April 2021 after his iron-fisted father, Idriss Deby Itno, in power for three decades, was killed during an operation against rebels.<\/p>\n The younger Deby has since angered many at home and embarrassed backers abroad by staying in power beyond his initially promised deadline, which would have expired on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re firing on us. They are killing our people,\u201d Succes Masra, whose Transformers party was among groups that had called the protest, said on Twitter.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Soldiers of the one-and-only General who refused to honour his word and on the day when the 18 months are up \u2014 this is how he intends to install the (Deby) dynasty.\u201d<\/p>\n Deby\u2019s junta had originally declared it would restore civilian rule after 18 months in power and he initially promised not to take part in elections that would follow.<\/p>\n But as the 18-month deadline neared, a nationwide forum staged by Deby reset the clock.<\/p>\n On October 1, it approved a new \u201cmaximum\u201d 24-month timeframe for holding elections.<\/p>\n It also named Deby \u201ctransitional president\u201d and declared he could be a candidate in the poll.<\/p>\n Deby was sworn in October 10, and later appointed a so-called government of national union headed by Kebzabo, a 75-year-old former journalist and one-time opposition figure.<\/p>\n One protestor, Abass Mahamat, 35, told he had chosen to voice his anger at \u201cthis facade of a dialogue which entrenches the system.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn 31 years, we haven\u2019t see any positive change in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n Troubled state<\/strong><\/p>\n The vast, arid Sahel state has had a long history of coups and political turmoil since it gained independence from France in 1960.<\/p>\n During his long stay in power, the elder Deby fought off several attempts to unseat him by rebels crossing from Libya and Sudan.<\/p>\n He was supported by France, which deemed him a strong ally in its campaign against jihadism in the Sahel.<\/p>\n France swiftly endorsed his son as his successor.<\/p>\n But its apparent displeasure at his push to cement power was visible at the October 10 inauguration ceremonies, where France, like the EU, was represented only by an ambassador.<\/p>\n The statement from Paris that denied any French involvement in Thursday\u2019s violence comes after anti-French protests during a coup in Burkina Faso earlier this month.<\/p>\n Protestors attacked the French embassy and cultural centre in the capital Ouagadougou after coup leaders accused France of harbouring junta chief Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba at a base in Burkina, an allegation France denied.<\/p>\n Damiba fled to neighbouring Togo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Ali Aba Kaya and Djimet Wiche N\u2019Djamena, Chad \u2013 Five people were killed on Thursday when police clashed with demonstrators in the Chadian capital during a banned protest against the ruling military, an AFP journalist saw. Hundreds of demonstrators turned out to mark the date when the military had initially promised to hand over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1229798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1229798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1229798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1229798\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1229798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1229798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1229798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}