Under pressure from France, Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno announced on Wednesday an "international probe" into an attempted coup against him earlier this month during which three opposition leaders went missing.
"There will be an international probe, which will shed light on the range of things that have happened," Deby told a news conference after talks with French President Nicholas Sarkozy.
Deby has been under pressure from France to account for the missing opposition leaders, who human rights groups say were abducted by the Chadian government during a rebel attack on the capital earlier this month.
One has been found and placed under house arrest; the fate of the other two remains unknown.
Sarkozy, an ally of Deby, stopped off in Ndjamena on Wednesday on his way to South Africa, where he was to spend two days.
"France wants the truth and I will not cede on this point. It's not because the Chadian government is legitimate that it can do whatever it wants," he said.
He said the probe should shed light "on what happened to the two opposition leaders [Ngarlejy] Yorongar and Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh."
The inquiry is to be be led by National Assembly leader and ruling party member Nassour Ouaidou, Deby said.
Earlier in Paris, Sarkozy had told representatives from six rights groups that he would ask Deby to set up an independent inquiry into the disappearance of Yorongar and Ibni, his spokesman David Martinon said.
Chadian Foreign Minister Ahmad Allam-Mi said in New York on Tuesday that Yorongar was hiding in Ndjamena but there was no word on Ibni, the spokesman of Chad's main opposition coalition.
Aides to Yorongar however denied the information and said Yorongar was still missing.
Aides to both Yorongar and Ibni have charged that the two men disappeared after being arrested as rebel troops besieged the capital on Feb. 3.
During his comments to journalists on Wednesday, Deby claimed 400 civilians were "missing or dead" following the attempted coup mounted by rebels against his government earlier this month.
"Chad was attacked ... and as a consequence ... 400 civilians are missing or dead, among whom there are leaders of political parties," he told reporters.
Until now, the Chadian Red Cross had estimated the fighting had left at least 160 dead.
Three Chadian rebel forces, accused by Deby of being mercenaries backed by neighbor and foe Sudan, formed an alliance in mid-December to topple the regime.
The rebel groups, which fought all the way to the center of the capital and surrounded the presidential palace on Feb. 3 before being repulsed by government forces, acknowledge Sudanese support.
The government was initially silent after its three political opponents vanished in Ndjamena, then announced inquiries, and on Feb. 14 said it had found one of them, Lol Mahamat Choua, in police custody.
Lol, a former head of state, is now under house arrest.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS