Will the armed conflict between the authorities and the rebels of the Front for Alternation and Concord in Chad (FACT) find a political outcome?

The leader of the rebels, who have been leading an offensive against the power of N'Djamena for two weeks and are accused by the army of having killed the head of state Idriss Déby Itno, assured Saturday that they were "available to observe a ceasefire ”.

The guns have not yet stopped talking, however.

FACT chief Mahamat Mahadi Ali said his troops continued to be bombarded by the Chadian army.

The last time on Saturday, early in the morning.

"They are rebels, which is why we are bombing them (...) We are waging war, that's all," reacted Azem Bermandoa Agouna, the spokesperson for the Transitional Military Council (CMT), chaired by the new strongman of the country Mahamat Idriss Déby, son of the late president.

France's support

Friday, a dozen heads of state gathered in the heart of N'Djamena to pay a final tribute to Marshal Déby. Among them, Emmanuel Macron who, like his counterparts in the Sahel countries, supported the military junta of the CMT. "France will never let anyone, neither today nor tomorrow, call into question the stability and integrity of Chad", promised the French president in his funeral oration. But he called on the authorities to promote “stability, inclusion, dialogue, democratic transition”.

“We stick to what Emmanuel Macron said, an inclusive dialogue to discuss the future of the people.

We believe in its ability to change the situation, ”assured Mahamat Mahadi Ali.

"We are on the same wavelength as the opposition and civil society," also said the leader of the rebel group.

The opposition denounces an "institutional coup"

Since the CMT took power, opposition parties and civil society have called for an “institutional coup” and demanded the establishment of a transition led by civilians through inclusive dialogue. "The forces of life understand by inclusive dialogue the involvement and participation of all actors whether or not they have taken up arms to conquer power", declared on Saturday several civil society associations and political parties grouped within the collective "Wakit Tama".

The Independent Confederation of Chadian Trade Unions (CIST), which brings together the main teachers' trade unions, also protested against "a very serious setback in democracy" and demanded "a return to constitutional order".

The Chad Bar Association also “disapproves” of this transition.

Finally, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) expressed on Friday its "deepest concerns about what seems to it more akin to the organization of a succession for the pursuit of the grabbing of power".

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