(Doha) The leader of the junta in Chad, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, is due to sign an agreement in Qatar on Monday with some 40 rebel groups supposed to pave the way for the return to civilian rule, diplomats said.
Posted yesterday at 10:11 p.m.
However, there remains an unknown factor, they qualify: one of the main rebel groups has still not decided whether it will sign this arrangement which provides for the opening of a national dialogue for peace.
For five months, various Chadian actors have been negotiating under the aegis of Doha to put an end to decades of unrest and instability in this country of 16 million inhabitants which has experienced several coups.
The day after the death of President Idriss Déby Itno, killed at the front against rebels in April 2021, his son, the young general Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, was proclaimed president at the head of a Transitional Military Council of 15 generals.
He immediately promised free and democratic elections within 18 months, after an “inclusive national dialogue” with the political opposition and the countless rebel movements, preceded by peace negotiations with around forty armed groups.
These negotiations will lead to the signing on Monday, Qatar has confirmed.
Convince FACT
According to diplomats, 42 of the 47 groups represented in Doha will affix their signatures on Monday, alongside the government.
They will thus undertake to participate in the national dialogue scheduled for N’Djamena on August 20 in the presence, according to the authorities, of more than 1,300 rebel representatives, from civil society, trade unions, the opposition and those in power.
While General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno has exceptionally agreed to go to Doha, Mahamat Mahdi Ali, the head of the Front pour l’alternance et la concorde au Tchad (FACT), at the origin of the offensive from Libya which cost his father his life, remained in the Libyan desert.
On Sunday, diplomats said negotiations were continuing to convince his group to initial the agreement – which he himself recently described as a “good basis”.
“Having so many signatory groups is a good start for the national dialogue, but this agreement will be more fruitful if FACT is also part of it,” said the leader of a signatory group on condition of anonymity.
To the rebel leaders who will go to N’Djamena on August 20, the authorities are offering a ceasefire and security guarantees. Together during this dialogue, they will have to decide on the organization of the presidential election scheduled for October.
General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno casts doubt on a postponement of this election for 18 months, but Paris, the African Union and the European Union are pushing for him not to touch this deadline.
Chad, a member of the G5 Sahel, is considered a key partner in the anti-jihadist struggle of Westerners, starting with France, in Central and West Africa.