The Chadian government announced Thursday that a bizarre attack on the presidential palace had been repulsed, leaving 18 attackers and a Chadian soldier dead.
“The situation is completely under control. There is no fear,” Foreign Minister Abderrahmane Qualmara said. said From inside the presidential palace, where order has been restored. He said President Mahamat Deby Itno was in the palace when the night attack occurred but suffered no harm.
After the attack, rumors spread that Islamist terrorists such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State had attempted to kill the president, but Qualmara said the attackers were actually local youths from the capital N'Djamena, and that they may have been drunk. He said he had been taking drugs.
“They are people from a certain area of N'Djamena, but I won't name them. They had no weapons of war. Their attempts were disorganized and completely incomprehensible,” he said.
In a later television interview, Kouramala said there were a total of 24 attackers armed with knives and machetes. They drove to the presidential palace, pretended to be having trouble with their car, and attacked four members of the presidential guard as they approached, stabbing one to death.
The attackers forced their way deep into the presidential palace, where they encountered armed guards who shot dead 18 of them and arrested six others.
“I arrived at the scene immediately after the shooting and was impressed by the military deployment. We have a very good army and Chadians can sleep soundly. Our country is well defended. ” said Kouramallah. said.
Chadian security officials told foreign media a very different story, saying the perpetrators were probably connected to Boko Haram and that “massive security failures at the palace” allowed them to get so close to Deby. He said he was able to do it.
Beverly Ochien, a security analyst based in Senegal said Al Jazeera news that Boko Haram may have wanted to retaliate against Deby with a counterattack, Operation Huskanite. ordered Deby said in October after Boko Haram attacked a village in the Lake Chad basin, killing more than 40 Chadian soldiers.
Al Jazeera noted that Deby's rule is also threatened by a rebel group called the Front for Change and Harmony in Chad (FACT), which Deby's father was fighting with when he was killed. President Idriss Deby was reportedly killed in action in 2021.
“Chad is not a monarchy. There can be no dynastic transfer of power in our country,” FACT said after the young Deby took over in a military coup.
Ochieng concluded by suggesting that the attack may have been an “inside job” by an ambitious military leader who wanted to seize power after the “assassination of President Deby.”
attack came About a week after Chad's parliamentary elections, most opposition parties suffered a disaster. condemned They refused to participate in the process, calling it a “demonstration''. Deby's government has not yet announced the election results.
Strictly speaking, Deby's government is a military regime. seized power He received military support after his father, Idriss Deby, was killed in fighting with rebels in 2021. The elder Debbie had been in power for 30 years at the time of her death. Debbie in her youth tried It aims to consolidate power in highly questionable elections in May 2024. International observers dismissed the election as unfair, and the country has remained restless ever since.
The attack on the palace coincided with a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who met with Deby to discuss “promoting bilateral cooperation.” Wang had nothing but praise for Debbie, who has brought “stability” to Chad.
Chad suddenly It's finished In November, it signed a long-standing anti-terrorism cooperation agreement with former colonial power France, taking France's last operational base in Africa's terrorist-filled Sahel region.
Kouramala said in November that the French military withdrawal was necessary to show Chad “is a growing, mature and sovereign state that is very jealous of its sovereignty.”
