Foreign

Tinubu Congratulates Chad’s Mahamat Déby on Electoral Victory

By Web News 428

By Abdullah Bello (Abuja)

President Bola Tinubu had congratulated the President-Elect of the Republic of Chad, Mahamat Déby, on his election victory.

A statement says the president affirms that the successful conduct of elections in the nation underlines the commitment of the government and the people of Chad to democracy and orderly transitions in the region.

He assures President-elect Déby that Nigeria will continue to work closely with the Republic of Chad, as both countries seek to enhance peace, security, and shared prosperity for the mutual benefit of their peoples.

The statement which was signed by the Special Adviser to the president on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, says President Tinubu also calls for sustained, friendly co-operation between both nations, while wishing the President-Elect success as he undertakes this noble service to the people of Chad.

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Foreign

Chad Declares Emergency over Food Insecurity

By Web News 564

Chad’s interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby has signed a decree declaring a food and nutrition emergency.

“This decision follows the constant deterioration of the food and nutritional situation this year and taking into account the growing risk to populations if no humanitarian aid…is provided,” read the decree.

The plea for aid comes before a meeting between African Union chairman Macky Sall and Vladmir Putin to discuss Russian grain supplies.

The United Nations has warned that 5.5 million people in Chad – more than a third of the population – will need humanitarian assistance this year.

The World Food Programme said in March that some 2.1 million Chadians would be “severely food insecure” during the dry weather season that starts this month.

BBC/Simeon Ugbodovon

Foreign

PMB Advocates Peaceful Transition To Democratic Government In Chad

By Web News 580

President Muhammadu Buhari has called on the international community to support Chad to conclude the transition from military to democratic government in a peaceful manner within the set time of 18 months.

President Buhari spoke at the opening of the Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) convened to discuss the recent developments in Chad after President Idris Deby Itno died on the frontline while defending the territorial integrity of his country.

The Nigerian leader, who declared the one-day summit open in his capacity as the Chair of leaders of LCBC member-countries, rallied development partners and countries particularly France, the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Russia; the United Nations, the African Union and the European Union, as well as other friendly and partner nations to support the transition framework put in place by Chad’s Transition Military Council led by General Mahamat Idris Deby.

According to him it must be stated that the sanctity of the Chadian constitution as the supreme guiding document defining the social contract in the country must be respected.

He said the transition period should be civilian-led, with requisite powers given to the constitutionally mandated organs of government saddled with the responsibility of administering the country.

At the meeting attended by the Presidents of Central African Republic, Niger, Chad, Chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya and a representative of the President of Cameroon, President Buhari said the death of President Deby Itno had direct implications for the continued peace and stability of Chad as a nation, the Lake Chad region and the wider Sahel Region.

He Noted that the west African region is faced with difficult, several challenges that needs the support and engagement of all to overcome.

President Buhari maintained that the threats by the Chadian rebel groups, who are clamouring to overthrow the government, must be viewed with all the seriousness they deserve because the consequences of a destabilized Chad to the sub-region cannot be imagined.

President Buhari also used the occasion to commend the untiring efforts of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Multinational Joint Task Force, member countries’ National Armed Forces and Security and Intelligence Agencies ‘‘who daily strive to ensure the complete restoration of peace and stability in the region.

He pledged that officers, some of whom have paid the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty for the survival of the region, will never be forgotten

On the request of President Buhari and in recognition of the immense and sterling contributions of the late President of Chad to peace and stability in the region, the Summit observed a minute silence for the departed leader.

Eulogising the Marshal of Chad, President Buhari described the late President as a committed African leader and statesman who stood for peace and stability of the Lake Chad Region, the Sahel and the African continent in general.

 He added that his passion, commitment and zeal to the cause of the Lake Chad and African unity would be greatly missed.

FRCN, Abuja

Foreign

Chad’s President Idriss Déby Dies ‘in Clashes with Rebels’

By Web News 550

Chad’s President Idriss Déby has died suddenly in clashes with rebels in the north of the country at the weekend, the army has said on state TV.

On Monday, provisional results from the election on 11 April projected he would win a sixth term in office, with 80% of the vote.

The government and parliament have been dissolved. A military council will govern for the next 18 months.

Mr Déby, 68, was one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.

He first came to power in an armed uprising in 1990.

Mr Déby “breathed his last defending the sovereign nation on the battlefield”, an army general said in a statement read out on state TV.

He had gone to the front line at the weekend to visit troops battling rebels based across the border in Libya.

The military council will be led by the late president’s son, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, 37, a four-star general.

The rebels, from a group calling itself Fact (the Front for Change and Concord in Chad), attacked a border post on Election Day. They were advancing on the capital, N’Djamena, several hundred kilometers to the south.

The clashes with the army began on Saturday. An army general told Reuters news agency that 300 insurgents were killed and 150 captured.

Five government soldiers were killed and 36 were injured, he said. The figures could not immediately be verified.

Mr Déby was a long-time ally of France and other Western powers in the battle against jihadist groups in the Sahel region of Africa. However, there has been growing unhappiness over his government’s management of Chad’s oil resources.

During the election he campaigned on a platform of bringing peace and security to the region.

Source: BBC

Crime

Chad Inquiry Finds 44 Prisoners Died in Hot, Overcrowded Cell

By Web News 624

A group of 44 prisoners died in one night in a prison in Chad because they were all kept in the same cell in 46C heat, an investigation has concluded.

Prosecutors had suggested that the group were suspected Boko Haram militants and had taken poison to kill themselves.

But the National Human Rights Commission said they were civilians.

Their report described a dangerously overcrowded cell, scorching heat, thirst and hunger.

Chad’s Justice Minister Djimet Arabi told AFP he had taken note of the Commission’s report and that an inquiry had been launched to determine who was responsible for the deaths.

The 44 prisoners were found dead in their cell on the outskirts of the capital N’Djamena on the morning of 15 April.

Prosecutors said at the time that the men were part of a group of 58 suspects captured during a major army operation against the Islamist militants Boko Haram around Lake Chad.

The public prosecutor said 40 of the prisoners were buried and four were taken to a pathologist who found traces of poison.

Mr Arabi had also suggested that it could have been a case of collective suicide and denied they had been ill-treated.

The independent commission’s report tells a very different story.

Firstly, it disputes they were militants, instead saying they were farmers and villagers who were arbitrarily arrested.

It also points out that the army operation against Boko Haram – which ran between 23 March and 8 April – was already over when the suspects were picked up.

It then described the overcrowded, scorching conditions in the cell, where survivors say the only food they were given were a few dates, not enough to go around the group.

The 14 survivors told the commission that, in the heat, some started falling to the ground, while others called out to the guards for help but were ignored.

“The jailers did not deign to give assistance to anyone in danger in these conditions despite cries of distress and prayers recited all night,” the report said, according to AFP

BBC

Yoruba

Ilẹ̀ Nàijírìa àti Chad sọ̀rọ̀pọ̀ lórí isẹ́ àgbẹ̀

By Web News 766

Orólẹ̀èdè wa Nàijírìa, ilẹ̀ olóminira Niger àti orílẹ̀èdè Chad ti ńsisẹ́ lórí àkànse ètò láti fi se àtúnse ibùdó adágún odò Chad, kí ètò ìgbáyégbádùn ba lè wà fáwọn èèyàn tó wà lágbègbè adágún odò na.

Ọga àgbà àjọ kan tí wọ́n ń pè ní National Agency for the great green wall, ọ̀mọ̀wé Bukar Hassan ló sọ̀rọ̀ yí lẹ́yìn ìpàdé kan tí wọ́n se lórí bí ilẹ̀ se ọgbẹlẹ̀, nílu New Delhi lórílẹ̀èdè India.

Ọmọwe Hassan sọ pé, níwọ̀n ìgbà tó jẹ́ pé kò sí orílẹ̀èdè tọ́rọ̀ ọ̀rọ̀ àyíká ko kan, àjọsepọ̀ láàrin àwọn orílẹ̀èdè mẹ́tẹ̀ẹ̀ta yo jẹ kí wọn lè sàtúnse sọ́rọ̀ isk àgbẹ̀ lágbayé na, bákannà ni àwọn ilẹ̀ tó ti sáà, yo di ọlọ́ra padà, tí gbe ayé yo sì túbọ̀ rọrùn fáwọn èèyàn tó wà nítòsí adágún odò Chad na.

Kemi Ogunkóla/Lara Ayọade