Chad's Exiled Opposition Leader Won't Return Home Yet

Chadian rights groups and the political opposition have been organizing protests before the one-year anniversary of the crackdown that killed 128 people and injured over 500 others who were demanding an end to military rule. The head of the non-governmental organization Collective Action of Youths for Peace, Development, and the Emergence of Chad, Mahamat El Mahdi Abderrahmane, announced that he was asking the Transitional Military Council to immediately revoke the international arrest warrant for opposition leader Succes Masra, an exiled pro-democracy leader.

Masra said that he is unable to return from exile on October 18 as scheduled due to growing threats to civil freedoms by Chad's Transitional Military Council. Before his return, he said that hundreds of people detained for opposing the military must to be freed as a sign of his good intentions. Human Rights Watch said that the arrests of supporters of Chad's main opposition party seemed to be an attempt to limit political dissent ahead of a vote on a new constitution in December 2023. Chad is expected to hold presidential elections in 2024.