Chad junta names transitional government

By AFP

By NDI EUGENE NDI

The military junta that took power in Chad last month after the death of veteran leader Idriss Deby Itno named a transition government on Sunday, the army spokesman said.

Deby’s 37-year-old son Mahamat, who took the helm of the so-called Transitional Military Council (CMT), named a government comprising 40 ministers and secretaries of state (deputy ministers) and created a new National Reconciliation and Dialogue Ministry, the spokesman said in a televised statement.

The new ministry is to be headed by 70-year-old Acheick Ibn Oumar, a former rebel chief who became a diplomatic adviser to the presidency in 2019.

The head of the junta also retained some members of his late father’s cabinet in their positions. Among them are Mr Tahir Hamid Nguilin at the Ministry of Finance and Budget, Dr Issa Doubragne at the Ministry of Economy, Planning, Development and International Cooperation, and Dr Abdoulaye Sabre Fadoul at the Ministry of Health and National Solidarity.

While the main opposition leader, Saleh Kebzabo, was not named to the transitional government, another opposition figure, Mahamat Ahmat Alhabo, will be justice minister, junta spokesman Azem Bermandoa Agouna announced.

At least three members of the opposition have been named in the transitional government.

Opposition parties have scorned a pledge by the junta to restore democracy in Chad within 18 months.

Earlier Sunday, the junta announced the lifting of an overnight curfew introduced after Deby’s death.

The army said Deby died from wounds sustained in fighting with rebel forces in the north of the poor Sahel country last month.

The military has said that Deby died during fighting with rebels from the Libya-based Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), who had launched an election day offensive on April 11.

The announcement of Deby’s death came only a day after he was proclaimed winner of the presidential election, handing him a sixth term in office after three decades of iron-fisted rule in the former French colony.

Tensions are high in the country, with the military saying that six people were killed last week during demonstrations in the capital N’Djamena and the south against the formation of the junta.

A local aid group has put the death toll at nine. More than 650 people were arrested during the protests, which had been banned by the authorities.