Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
N’Djamena (Agenzia Fides) - In the run-up to the presidential and parliamentary elections, the interim president of Chad calls on the rebel groups to participate in an "inclusive national dialogue". It is a new path that the Chairman of the Military Transition Council (CMT), Mahamat Idriss Deby, is now taking after saying repeatedly in previous statements that the government would not negotiate with the rebels.
"The open and sincere dialogue that we all want will be particularly open to political-military movements", said Deby in a speech, stressing that "political calculations and rearguard battles that have already caused too much damage to our country must be banned. forever".
The junta had so far refused to negotiate with the rebel groups, in particular with the Fighters of the Front for Change and Unity in Chad (FACT), who advanced south from bases in Libya in April and were advancing only 300 km from the capital N'Djamena.
In this context, Deby said the armed groups had "a patriotic duty to reconsider their positions" and to assist the Transitional Council in its efforts to achieve national unity.
Mahamat Idriss Deby did not come to power until April this year after his father, the former president, was killed while visiting troops fighting a riot in the north. The Standing Committee of the Chadian Bishops' Conference also discussed the country's difficult transition phase in July. At the end of the meeting, the bishops called for the transition process in Chad to be accompanied with international support and for an ad hoc committee to be set up to appoint the members of the future National Transitional Council (NTC). The bishops also called for the acceleration of the comprehensive national reconciliation dialogue, which was supposed to bring together all actors of socio-political life in Chad, and the establishment of a National Transitional Council to carry out the necessary institutional reforms for the elaboration of a constitutional draft that is capable of reaching a consensus. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 11/8/2021)
AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - President Kiir meets bishops: "There is hope for peace"
AFRICA/DR CONGO - Cardinal Besungu denounces the waste of money for constitutional reform: "We must take care of young people"
ASIA/PAKISTAN - The commitment of the Franciscans: interreligious dialogue defuses religious and social tensions
ASIA/PAKISTAN - Controversial Islamic preacher visits the Pakistani government