ATTACK ON CHAD’S INTELLIGENCE AGENCY KILLS ‘SEVERAL’

The bullet-riddled headquarters of the Socialist Party without Borders.

Wed 27 February 2024:

“Several” people lost their lives in an attack on Chad’s intelligence services’ premises, authorities said Wednesday.

According to government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah, members of the opposition Socialist Party Without Borders (PSF) were responsible for the “deliberate” attack that occurred overnight against the National State Security Agency (ANSE).

While blaming the assault on the National State Security Agency (ANSE) on activists from the opposition Socialist Party Without Borders (PSF) headed by Yaya Dillo, the government said “the situation is now completely under control” and “the perpetrators of this act have been arrested or are being sought and will be prosecuted”.

The attack came after the Feb. 19 arrest of the finance secretary of the PSF, whom the government accused of attempting to assassinate Samir Adam Annour, the president of the Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, PSF president Yaya Dillo, who is the cousin of the country’s transitional president Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, announced on social media that the party’s finance secretary Abakar Torabi had been shot dead.

Deby Itno came to power after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, was killed while fighting rebels in 2021, after ruling the desert nation for three decades.

The younger Deby had pledged to hand over power to an elected government after 18 months – a deadline that was not achieved before postponing the election to this year.

He will run as a candidate for the ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement in the upcoming presidential elections.

On Tuesday, Chad’s National Election Management Agency said the first round of the presidential vote will take place on May 6.

Koulamallah, the government spokesman, on Wednesday urged Chadians “to go about their business normally.”

“It is important to emphasize that anyone seeking to disrupt the ongoing democratic process in the country will be prosecuted and brought to justice according to the laws in force,” he said. “Chad remains resolute in its commitment to democracy and national stability.”

Election date

“The security operations, we understand, are still continuing, and the headquarters of the Socialist Party Without Frontiers … is still under siege and there is security deployed on the streets of the capital,” said Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from Abuja, the capital of neighbouring Nigeria.

“We understand that military personnel are now patrolling the streets in the capital. In the afternoon, some individuals in N’Djamena told us that they were pinned down because of heavy gunfire in the centre of the city, not far from the presidential palace and not far from the headquarters of opposition Socialist Party Without Frontiers.”

Though the government said “a lot of people have died … the government is not saying how many people have died in that incident that happened overnight”, Ahmed Idris added.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

______________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22