The Chadian authorities have announced that they accept the deployment of an international fact-finding mission to clarify what happened during the political violence unleashed on October 20, in which some 50 people were killed and more than 300 injured.
«The truth is important. There were deaths. Each side gives its version. The population must know. It has to know who sent who to do what,» stressed the Congolese Minister of Regional Integration, Didier Mazenga Mukanzu, one of the two special envoys for Chad of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), quoted by the RFI radio station.
The ECCAS facilitation mission, active since October 25, has raised the possibility of an international fact-finding mission and the Chadian military authorities have accepted. «The collaboration of outsiders can help,» said a Chadian diplomatic source quoted by RFI.
The ECCAS mission has been very active in recent days and has met with representatives of the government, the exiled opposition, diplomats and clergymen. «We must not dramatize. Chad must go to elections. And we must support it», said Mukanzu before emphasizing the «desire to move forward» demonstrated by all parties.
Mukanzu explained that he hopes that a meeting between all parties will be held in the long term in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The leader of the Chadian junta, Mahamat Idriss Déby, described the protests as an «organized insurrection» supported by «foreign powers» and accused the demonstrators of «killing civilians in cold blood and assassinating members of the security forces» with a view to generating a «civil war».
The protests erupted after the junta decided to extend for another two years the mandate of Déby, who initially planned to step down to return power to a civilian government. He was appointed president by the army in 2021 following the death of his father, Idriss Déby Itno, who had led the country since 1990.
