The photo says more than any official statement: the American ambassador to Chad kneels next to bloodstains on a street in the capital N'Djamena.

A few shoes are lying around and other bloody remnants of a demonstration that was brutally suppressed in the Central African country at the end of last week.

According to official information, at least 50 people were killed and around 300 injured by state security forces.

Opposition members consider the number of victims to be significantly higher.

Claudia Bröll

Political correspondent for Africa based in Cape Town.

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Chad is the next Sahel country to slide deeper and deeper into crisis after a non-democratic transfer of power.

Last year, the president's son, Mahamat Idriss Déby, declared himself the new head of state.

Shortly before, his father, Idriss Déby, had fallen in battle with rebels, according to the official account.

He seized power in 1990 and ruled Chad with an iron hand for 31 years.

In the authoritarian state, protests are unusual

In contrast to the military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, the international protest over the promotion of a general's son remained muted.

The late Déby was one of the key allies of western governments in the Sahel.

The Chadian armed forces are known to be fearless and well-equipped troops that dare to venture into the most dangerous corners.

Some hoped that a certain continuity would be guaranteed when the son took office.

But dissatisfaction has been brewing in Chad for some time.

The protests in N'Djamena were directed against a resolution a few weeks ago that would allow 38-year-old Déby to stay in power for another two years.

According to this, democratic elections should not take place until 2024, whereby he can stand as a candidate in the elections himself.

The previous “interim military council” was replaced by a “interim government” appointed by the president.

After taking office in April 2021, Déby had promised a transition period of 18 months before elections.

This deadline has now expired.

The resolution was the result of a national dialogue launched in August, which brought together more than 1,300 representatives from various groups.

The aim was to pave the way for free, fair and transparent elections and for a civil government.

The foundations for a new “social contract” were to be created.

The organizers described the dialogue as "inclusive".

Opposition leaders, however, protested.

Some lobbyists would have done everything to keep the military government in power.

Some groups had boycotted the dialogue, including the largest rebel group.

How the members of the political elite, the opposition and the rebel groups in Chad are related is difficult to see through from the outside, often the members of hostile groups are related to each other.

Shots with live ammunition

Protests like last week are unusual in the authoritarian state.

Hundreds of angry people took to the streets in the two largest cities and smaller towns.

The security forces first responded with tear gas.

As the number of demonstrators grew, they fired live ammunition.

The African Union, the United Nations and the European Union condemned the violence.

Human rights organizations spoke of massacres and called for clarification.

The new Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo, a former opposition politician, presidential candidate and minister, spoke of an "armed popular uprising for the violent seizure of power".

Demonstrators had devastated and set fire to his party's headquarters.

The foreign minister tried to calm things down in front of foreign ambassadors.

A commission of inquiry will be set up “as soon as possible”.

Some states responded very quickly to the protests.

"Haste reactions to this type of event can lead to misunderstandings." President Déby visited injured people in hospitals on the same day.

After the protests, the government imposed a night curfew.