Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
N’Djamena (Fides Service)- “The situation is calm, traffic is normal and people have gone to work as usual today. But the apparent calm hides deep concern for the future” say local Church sources in N’Djamena, capital of Chad, where security forces thwarted a coup attempt during the night of 14 March to overthrow President Idriss Déby. Chad government sources said the planned coup included the shooting down of the President’s aircraft on his return from Equatorial Guinea where he went for a Central African Economic and Monetary Community summit.
According to the local authorities the “brains” of the plot were twin brothers Tom and Timan Erdimi, former directors of President Déby cabinet who joined the exiled Opposition last December and general Seby Aguid, former army chief who joined a rebel group of army deserters.
“It’s a family plot” say our sources. “The president’s brothers and cousins are angry with him for not granting benefits they requested. The president’s clan is against his policy with regard to the crisis with Sudan. The Sudanese tribes suffering because of war in Darfur which borders on Chad are affiliated with the president’s clan which wants a more rigid attitude towards Khartoum”.
In May there should be political and presidential elections and Déby intends to run for another mandate. “Tension will probably rise also because southern regions want a ‘southern’ president. Since the second half of the 1970s all Chad’s heads of state have come from the north. The southern regions now want to re-balance the situation”.
“Another factor to keep in mind” say our sources “is interference of certain neighbouring countries and some non African powers anxious to change the domestic situation in Chad in their favour”.
Chad recently became an oil exporting country. Furthermore it has considerable uranium in the region of Aozou on the border with Libya. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 16/3/2006 righe 32 parole 400)
