Chad: Home security ministry bans demonstration in front of French military base

Mahamat Charfadine Margui, Chad’s Minister of Public Security, banned Wednesday a demonstration planned this Thursday December 28 by a political party in front of the French military base in the country.

The sit-in, called for by Le Front Populaire pour la Fédération [Popular Front for the Federation], is illegal because it does not abide by provisions governing street demonstrations, Alwihda Info reports quoted Margui as saying.

The minister argued that the demonstration is likely to cause public disorder.

The media did not provide reasons behind the planned demonstration but it came following calls for the closure of the military base following incidents in September 2023 in which three Chadian were killed in the northern city of Faya-Largeau.

The Chadian army killed early September two people who were trying to infiltrate a French military base in the city amid protests against the death of a Chadian soldier at the hands of a French doctor.

Protests erupted September 5 in the city after Mahamat Dakou Hamid, a soldier in his thirties, transported to the military base for medical treatment was shot dead by a French military doctor in a brawl.

The Chadian army intervened to curtail the protest and clashed with hundreds of youths who were trying to storm the base. At least 15 people including women and children were also wounded in the clashes.

After the incident, most of the personnel at the French military base was evacuated by plane to the Chadian capital of N’Djamena.

Following Dakou’s death, members of the Chadian Parliament reportedly demanded the withdrawal of French military forces from the country.