Masra success in N'Djamena: “Reconciliation is not capitulation”

Published on November 20, 2023

Reading: 3 minutes.

One of the main opponents of the Chadian military regime, hundreds of supporters of whom were killed or imprisoned a year ago in a bloody repression, advocated "reconciliation" with the power on November 19, one month before a constitutional referendum.

“Collective responsibility”

Success Masra, president of the Les Transformateurs party, who fled a year ago, the returned from exile on November 3 after signing a “reconciliation agreement” with the power of the transitional president, General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno. This agreement provides in particular for a “general amnesty” for those responsible for murders of demonstrators on October 20, 2022, for almost all very young men killed by bullets of police and military. Around fifty according to the government, more than 300 according to the opposition, national and international NGOs and a report by experts commissioned by the UN.

Success Masra urged, on Sunday, November 19, hundreds of his supporters gathered in N'Djamena to “appeasement” and not to “demand revenge”. By hammering home the word “reconciliation” repeatedly, the opponent a “prayed to God to soothe the hearts” of the victims and their families and “guide them towards collective responsibility”. “Reconciliation is not capitulation,” he said.

Since his return to the country, the rest of the opposition, many of whose leaders are still in exile, denounces a “deal” of fools and castigates a rally of Success Masra in power with the prospect of elections promised for 2024. She calls for a boycott of the December 17 referendum and judges the amnesty as the means of “protecting from prosecution the criminals […] who mass killed, tortured, kidnapped and made young people disappear on October 20, 2022”, summarized Max Kemkoye, president of the Union of Democrats for Development and Progress (UDP).

The newfound hope of his supporters

The opponent's powerful speech was punctuated by ovations from a compact crowd of supporters dressed in national colors. “His speech reassures the people, we are standing,” enthuses Étienne Josue, 25 years old. “It brings back a feeling of hope in us, after October 20, there was no more hope,” adds Salim Abdoulaye, 32 years old. “Our brother Mahamat Déby can count on us as an ally of the people. We are ready to continue with the authorities to find a comprehensive solution,” concluded Succès Masra.

General Déby was proclaimed by the army on April 20, 2021 transitional president at the head of a junta of 15 generals at la dead of his father Idriss Déby Itno, killed by rebels on his way to the front after ruling Chad with an iron fist for thirty years. He immediately promised to return power to civilians through elections at the end of an eighteen-month transition, ultimately extended by two years at the end of these eighteen month.

On October 20, 2022, more than 600 young men, including 83 minors, were arrested – at least a thousand according to the opposition – and deported to the sinister Koro Toro penitentiary in the middle of the desert. Most were sentenced to prison a month and a half later. for “insurrection” in a mass trial without lawyers. They were then quickly pardoned by General Déby and released. But the opposition and international NGOs claim that dozens or even hundreds disappeared on October 20 and the following days, "executed" or died during their transport to Koro Bull.

 (With AFP)