Chad - 2008 Coup
Chad’s history has been punctuated by intermittent rebellions and coup attempts; the most recent of which was in 2008. In February 2008, rebels occupied N’Djamena and attacked the Presidential Palace. That incursion was followed by rebel operations in eastern Chad in June 2008. Internal and external security-related concerns inform public decision-making, including heavy investment in training and equipping Chad’s security forces. Presidential and legislative elections, both held in 2011, occurred without violence, though the opposition did not participate in the presidential elections. Local elections were held for the first time in January 2012. Municipal elections in 2012 proceeded without serious security incidents.
On 2 February 2008, rebel forces entered the capital city of N'djamena in Chad in an attempt to overthrow President Idriss Déby. Fighting continued in the capital for two days before the rebels were driven back. Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) reported that over 270 people were killed during the fighting and nearly 1,000 injured. The Red Cross provided similar figures to the Christian Science Monitor, reportedly stating that "hundreds died in the fighting and thousands were injured" (Christian Science Monitor 14 Feb. 2008). The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that 30,000 people fled to Cameroon. By the end of February, it was reported that although many people had returned to Chad, many others remained hesitant to go back citing insecurity as the reason. On 7 February 2008, the government imposed a country-wide "dusk-to-dawn" curfew and a week later, declared a state of emergency authorizing house searches and controls on the private and public press. The state of emergency was lifted on 15 March 2008.
The group involved in the attempted 2008 coup was a new alliance of three rebel forces: the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (Union des Forces pour la démocratie et le développement, UFDD), also known as the United Force for Democracy and Development, led by Mahamat Nouri who is of Goran (Gorane) ethnicity and is a former key member of the government of President Idriss Déby; the Rally of Forces for Change (Rassemblement des forces pour le changement, RFC) led by Timane Erdimi of Zaghawa ethnicity, another high ranking former member of Déby's administration who is also Déby's nephew; and the UFDD-Fondamentale, a splinter group of the UFDD led by Abdelwahid Aboud, a Chadian Arab also. According to the New York Times, the armed rebels represented a variety of ethnic groups. They alleged that Déby's administration favours members of the Zaghawa clan, who reportedly "make up less than 3% of Chad's population" (ibid.). A displaced Chadian who fled to northern Cameroon during the coup attempt to escape the violence in N'djamena told the UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) that the rebels had targeted primarily Zaghawan Chadians.
Various groups expressed concern about the government's reaction to the attempted coup. In a press release dated 7 February 2008, the deputy program director for Africa at Amnesty International (AI) expressed concern that the government was launching a "major witch-hunt" against people suspected of supporting the rebels. Of fifteen cases of "apparent arbitrary detention" documented by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a 20 March 2008 article, eleven cases involved individuals of Goran ethnicity, the predominant ethnic group of the UFDD, the "rebel group that led the coup attempt" (20 Mar. 2008). The HRW article describes "abuses" committed by state security forces including looting, extortion, beatings, torture and rape that were committed by security forces during "house-to-house searches" (ibid.). Amnesty International (AI) USA reported that three men who were thought to "belong to the same ethnic community as the armed opposition groups" were victims of extrajudicial executions in the immediate aftermath of the attempted coup (AI USA 7 Feb. 2008).
Concerns were expressed about the arrest of opposition politicians during the state of emergency. A New York Times article published on 12 February 2008 reported that "at least half a dozen" opposition leaders had disappeared after being last seen under escort by men in military uniform that bore no insignias. The article included a quote by a member of an opposition party who stated, "[a]ll of us who are against this government are afraid now" (New York Times 12 Feb. 2008). The head of the Chadian human rights organization Human Rights Without Borders(Droits de l'homme sans frontiers, DHSF), who fled to Cameroon following a visit to his home by the police, was quoted in an IRIN article as saying that "[a]nyone who was suspected of supporting the rebels was arrested" following the coup attempt (UN 20 Mar. 2008).
In particular, concerns were raised about the detention of the following three opposition leaders: Lol Mahamat Choua, a former Chadian president who was heading a committee on democratic reform (ibid.); Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh, spokesman for the Coordination for the Defense of the Constitution (Coordination pour la défense de la Constitution, CPDC); and Ngarlejy Yorongar, a veteran opposition leader and head of the political party Federation Action for the Republic (Fédération Action pour la République, FAR). Choua was reportedly placed under arrest and later released. Yorongar was detained and then fled to France via Cameroon (ibid.). As of July 2008, the whereabouts of Ibni remain unknown.
Yorongar told the press that Ibni was severely beaten in custody and that he fears that Ibni has died as a result. In a report by Afrique Express, Yorongar alleges that he was initially detained with both Choua and Ibni; however, Choua contradicts Yorongar's version of events claiming that he was always kept in solitary detention.
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