Chad: Relatives of deceased protesters are still waiting for their remains
Audio 01:14
Tires burned during a demonstration in Ndjamena, October 20, 2022. © Juda Allahondoum - Le Visionnaire/via REUTERS
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Chad, it is time for mourning after the bloody repression of the demonstrations on Thursday, October 20.
Officially, the events left about fifty dead and more than 300 injured.
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Somewhere in the 7th arrondissement, in the Chagua district, daily life is in full swing, people are busy, everything seems normal.
But behind a metal fence, a family is grieving, mourning their son.
The 27-year-old construction engineer was out at 5 a.m. on October 20.
He never came back, his uncle tells our special correspondent in Ndjamena,
Yves-Laurent Goma
: “
He left for work, he is not a protester.
He was shot in the chest.
At the hospital, it was very difficult to identify the body.
He left two wives and three children.
In the neighborhood, many families are experiencing the same tragedy.
More serious, rumors announce that
all the victims of October 20
will be buried in a mass grave, but Ali Haroun, mayor of Ndjamena, denies: “
No victim will be buried in a mass grave
”.
Each family will choose the burial site for their relative, he claims.
For his part, the public prosecutor authorized the families to recover the remains of their deceased and bury them as of Monday, October 24.
But no remains were taken out of the morgue, either because the families were not well informed, or because the information fell a little late,
while a curfew is in force in the capital
from 6 p.m.
In Moundou, the country's second city, where at least 20 people were killed, a father was prevented from recovering the remains of his 16-year-old son.
On condition of anonymity, he told RFI how he lost his son and how the pain is added to the cumbersomeness of the procedure.
Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno denounces a "
carefully planned insurrection
"
Four days after the demonstrations,
the transitional president Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno
spoke for the first time on the subject on Monday evening, in a speech on national television.
Deploring the dead and injured, he assured that justice would establish responsibility, but he has already denounced what he called a "
planned insurrection
".
Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby speaks out for the first time since the protests
Claire Fages
Thursday's demonstrations at the call of the opposition intended to challenge the two-year extension of the transition after a national dialogue boycotted by part of the opposition and rebel groups.
The World Organization Against Torture speaks of a death toll of at least 80, and on Monday accused the Chadian government of "
serious violations of human rights
".
► To read also:
Chad: an NGO warns of hundreds of "deportations" after the deadly demonstrations
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Chad
Mahamat Idriss Deby