N’DJAMENA, Chad: Chad’s main opposition party accused soldiers on Friday of executing its leader in an attack on its headquarters ahead of long-promised May 6 elections.
Yaya Dillo Djerou was one of the main opponents and a cousin of Mahamat Idris Debi Iteno, who was appointed by the junta in 2021 as the interim president. Dilo died on Wednesday after soldiers surrounded the offices of the Socialist Without Borders party in the capital N’Djamena. The party claims it was an “execution”. The government denied the allegations.
The violence came a day after Chad’s military government announced presidential elections on May 6. The purpose of this vote is to end the three-year transition period and return the Central African country to the constitution.
Dilo, 49, told the media before his death that people wanted to “physically eliminate me” ahead of the election he and Debbie Iteno were to contest. Accounts of what happened when gunfire was heard during the attack vary wildly between government and party officials.
“It’s an execution, they fired at him at point blank range to execute him for becoming a problem,” Robert Gamb, his party’s general secretary charged Friday. Communications Minister Abderaman Koulamallah, however, immediately refuted the accusation. “We didn’t execute anyone,” he told media. “He opposed his arrest, there were exchanges of bullets. There was no execution.”
The government had accused Dilo of leading an attack on the offices of Chad’s internal security agency the night before his death. He denied any involvement.
Security forces this week sought to arrest members of Mr Dilo’s party on suspicion of trying to kill the chief justice last month. The government said the attack on internal security services, which killed several people, was an act of retaliation.
Four soldiers and three supporters of Mr. Dilo were killed in Wednesday’s fighting, the government said. Mr Koulamallah said on Thursday that Mr Dilo had “retreated” to party headquarters, adding that he was “unwilling to surrender and opened fire on law enforcement”. However, his party and other opposition politicians have accused government forces of deliberately killing Dilo.
Dilo’s death eliminates his biggest challenger in the presidential election. Enrica Pico of the International Crisis Group said: “Today there is no opponent in the presidential race that can pose a threat.”
Both men are from the same Zaghawa ethnic group, which has dominated Chadian politics for more than 30 years. Debi Iteno took power in 2021 following the death of his father, veteran leader Idris Debi Iteno, during a battle with rebels. He promised a return to civilian rule and elections within 18 months, but extended the transition period by two years.
