The Chadian government has thwarted an attempt to destabilize the country and undermine the constitution, a government spokesman said in a statement.
Eleven people conspired in the plot, including soldiers and a human rights activist, Aziz Mahamat Saleh said on Thursday. They were arrested last month and transferred to the high court in the capital, N’Djamena.
“A judicial investigation has been opened against these people for violating the constitutional order, criminal association, illegal possession of firearms and complicity,” Saleh said.
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All the defendants were military except for a human rights activist, Baradine Berdei Targuio, accused of violating national security and illegal possession of weapons.
Anti-government protesters set fire to a barricade during clashes in N’Djamena, Chad, on October 20, 2022. The Chadian government thwarted an attempt to destabilize the country and undermine the constitution, a government spokesperson said in a statement on January 20. . 5, 2023.
(AP Photo, File)
Tensions have risen in the West African nation in recent months with unprecedented anti-government protests.
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Mahamat Idriss Deby was declared head of state upon his father’s death in April 2021, rather than following the line of succession in the Chadian constitution. Opposition political parties at the time called the handover a coup, but later agreed to accept Deby as interim leader for 18 months.
In October, Chadian security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters in the country’s two largest cities, killing at least 60 people.
The arrest of the men is an attempt to silence dissenting voices, analysts say.
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“There are people who are not happy with the current government and its handling of (the) transition,” said Rida Lyammouri, a senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Morocco-based think tank. “What is interesting is that the defendants in the plot are a mixture of military and human rights officials, something that is not very common when we talk about a coup attempt,” she said.
