Calm returned Thursday in the Chadian capital N’Djamena the day after an “attack” with still unclear motives at the presidential palace which left 19 dead, including 18 attackers according to the government, whose account was doubted by opponents.
The reinforced security measures and traffic bans put in place on Wednesday evening were lifted on Thursday morning around the presidency where traffic was normal, AFP journalists noted.
Tension there suddenly rose shortly before 8:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. GMT) when heavy gunfire broke out, then lasted nearly an hour, in the very center of the capital of this poor Central African country led by a military junta and history punctuated by coups or attempts.
According to government spokesperson Abderaman Koulamallah, a group of “24 people”, whom he described as “a bunch of nickel-plated feet” drugged and drunk who came in civilian clothes from a poor neighborhood in the south of the city with ” weapons, cutters (machetes, Editor’s note) and knives”, attacked the guards of the presidential palace, before being quickly neutralized.
“There were 18 dead and 6 injured” among the attackers, who killed a presidential guard and injured three others, two seriously, he said Wednesday evening.
Videos shared on social networks and presented as being filmed by the military at the entrance to the presidency showed Chadian security forces circulating among numerous bloodied corpses lying on a ground strewn with bloodstains.
Others are alive and sitting on the ground, tied up. All of them are apparently young men in civilian clothes (jeans, shorts or jogging pants, shirts, T-shirts, sneakers), sometimes in rags, between two pools of blood.
“The situation is completely under control. (…) This entire attempt at destabilization has been eradicated,” added Mr. Koulamallah in the middle of the evening in a video posted on Facebook from the presidential palace, where he appeared with his gun in his belt at the middle of security forces.
Questioned afterwards on national television, the government spokesperson estimated that the attack was “probably not terrorist”.
– “Montage” –
The head of state, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, was at the palace at the time of the attack, Mr. Koulamallah told AFP, without further details. He has not spoken publicly at this stage.
-“Chadians can sleep soundly, our country is well guarded all the same, congratulations to the defense and security forces!”, concluded the spokesperson on national television late in the evening.
But some voices in the opposition expressed doubts about this official account on Thursday morning.
The spokesperson for an opposition party group, Max Kemkoye, spokesperson for Gcap (Consultation Group of Political Actors) spoke Thursday morning of “an unfortunate synopsis” and a “set-up” orchestrated by those in power.
The government spokesperson indicated that he would make a statement to the accredited diplomatic corps on Thursday afternoon. A statement from the public prosecutor is also expected during the day.
The shots at the presidency rang out a few hours after the visit to N’Djamena of the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, who notably met Mr. Déby at the presidential palace. The Chinese minister had left the country before these events, according to the Chadian government, to continue his African tour in Nigeria.
After the shooting broke out, all roads leading to the presidency were quickly closed to traffic, and tanks deployed in the streets, while people present in the surrounding area, visibly worried, rushed to return home.
Chad made a surprise announcement at the end of last November that it was ending the military agreement between Paris and N’Djamena, after sixty years of military cooperation that began at the end of French colonization.
The country completed three years of transition last May with the election of Mahamat Idriss Déby, brought to power by a military junta after the death of his father Idriss Déby, killed by rebels at the front in 2021.
Chadian forces are regularly attacked by Boko Haram jihadists, particularly in the Lake Chad region (west). At the end of October, President Déby “personally” launched and directed an anti-jihadist operation there for two weeks.
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