LIBREVILLE, Gabon: The European Union on Monday expressed concern over “post-election violence” in Chad, four days after junta leader General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno won a presidential election.
After the results were announced on Thursday, soldiers fired into the air in the Chadian capital N’Djamena, both to celebrate and to scare off protesters.
Chadian media reported that these “joy shots ” caused several deaths and numerous injuries – but the government refused to give a number, citing “respect for medical confidentiality”.
Deby’s supporters fired their own weapons into the air to celebrate near the presidential palace.
According to media reports, at least two teenagers were injured by falling bullets.
Chadian soldiers were then deployed in large numbers in several districts of N’Djamena on Friday.
The EU said it was “concerned about the post-election violence”, without elaborating.
Election officials declared Deby Itno the winner last Thursday with 61.03 percent of the vote, compared to 18.53 percent for his rival, Prime Minister Succes Masra.
Masra had earlier claimed victory, accusing the junta chief’s team of rigging the results and calling on his supporters to “mobilise peacefully”.
On Sunday, he said he had submitted a request to the Constitutional Council to have the vote annulled.
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The regime has long silenced opposition figures, and Deby’s main rival, Yaya Dillo, was killed in February.
The European Union has previously condemned Chad’s failure to allow nearly 3,000 EU-funded members of civil society to monitor the presidential election.
International human rights groups said the election would be neither credible nor fair.
Deby was declared interim president three years ago by his fellow generals after his father, President Idriss Deby Itno, was killed by rebels after 30 years in power.
