Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, the head of the junta in Chad, and some forty rebel factions signed an agreement on August 8 in Qatar on the opening of a national dialogue for peace on August 20 in N’Djamena, the Chadian capital. Two major rebel groups have already refused to participate.
“This August 8 is a historic day for Chad and Chadians“, declared in Doha Mahamat Idriss Déby while welcoming an agreement which, according to him, frees the country from the “demons of fratricidal war” and “repair the cracks of the past”.
This agreement is supposed to put an end to decades of instability in this country of 16 million inhabitants which has experienced several coups. Chad, a member of the G5 Sahel, is considered a key partner in the anti-jihadist struggle waged in Central and West Africa by Westerners, starting with France.
The Doha agreement, which has been negotiated for five months in the Qatari capital, comes as General Mahamat Idriss Déby casts doubt on a postponement of the presidential election, scheduled for October if the transition is not prolonged.
Here is what you need to know about the arrangement reached by the government and a large part of the Chadian rebels.
A prelude to dialogue
In total, 42 of the 47 groups represented in Doha have signed alongside the authorities. The signatories made a commitment to participate in the national dialogue in the presence, according to the authorities, of more than 1,300 representatives, including rebels and trade unions.
The Chadian junta is committed to ensuring the safety of members of rebel groups. The arrangement also provides for a “general ceasefire” between the authorities and the signatory groups, supposed to open the way to the return to a civil power.
The day after the death of President Idriss Déby Itno, his son, the young general Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, was proclaimed president at the head of a transitional military council of 15 generals. He had immediately promised free and democratic elections within 18 months, after a “inclusive national dialogue” with the political opposition and the countless rebel movements.
An agreement denounced by FACT, a major rebel group
“Having so many signatory groups is a good start for the national dialogue”, said the leader of one of these groups on condition of anonymity, stressing that the agreement would however be “more fruitful” if it included the Front for alternation and harmony in Chad (FACT). The rebel group is one of the main movements that decided not to sign the agreement. FACT is behind the attack that led to the death, in April 2021, of Marshal Idriss Déby Itno, who had ruled Chad with an iron fist for 30 years.
In a statement, FACT denounced “the disregard of (his) claims”, such as the release of prisoners. However, he indicated that there was still “available for dialogue everywhere and always”. “War solves nothing, we want a peaceful and political settlement, but when we are forced to defend ourselves, we will defend ourselves”, FACT leader Mahamat Mahdi Ali told AFP. Remaining in the Libyan desert, he did not make the trip to Doha and denounced “a dialogue biased in advance”.
The Military Command Council for the Salvation of the Republic (CCMSR), another major rebel group, also refused to sign the agreement, saying it did not want “to be part of a dialogue whose objectives we do not know”.
Mediation provided by Qatar
When it hosts discussions between the various Chadian parties on March 13, 2022, Qatar does not intend to play any role other than that of host country. This small Gulf country finally agrees to mediate between the junta and the Chadian rebels to unblock the ongoing peace talks in Doha.
The many opposition groups present in the Qatari capital have refused to engage in direct discussions with the government of Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, which has moved closer to Doha. They then turned to the Qatari authorities. “The various Chadian parties have officially asked Qatar to play a mediating role in the negotiations”Mutlaq ben Majed Al Qahtani, the mediator appointed by Doha, told AFP.
Qatar has already participated in peace negotiation efforts in Yemen, Lebanon, Sudan and between the Afghan Taliban and the US government. In addition, It is in Doha that lives under house arrest, one of the main leaders of the rebellion, Timan Erdimi, cousin of Mahamat Déby.
A “major step”
For the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, the signing of the agreement constitutes a “key moment for the Chadian people”. The head of the UN, who spoke in a video released during the official ceremony in Doha, however insisted that this dialogue should be “inclusive” to be able to succeed.
“The Doha agreement is a major step towards holding the inclusive national dialogue which will soon open in N’Djamena between all the political and social forces in the country”welcomed, for her part, a spokeswoman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This agreement “does not resolve the question of the armed opposition, since some of the main groups have not signed”Jérôme Tubiana, a French researcher specializing in Chad and its rebel groups, told AFP. “But this scenario was written in advance, since the government had chosen to dilute the weight of the four or five main groups in the middle of a much broader representation”.