Chad government says thwarted presidential palace assault

Two dozen assailants armed with weapons and machetes launched an assault on Chad’s presidential palace which the government said was thwarted but the opposition cast doubt Thursday on the official account of events.

Heavy gunfire erupted near the presidential complex just before 8:00 pm local time (1900 GMT) on Wednesday in the centre of N’Djamena, the capital of the military-ruled, central African country.

Roads leading to the presidential palace were blocked and tanks could be seen on the streets, an AFP reporter at the scene said at the time.

Government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah said a 24-member commando unit carrying “weapons, machetes and knives” attacked the guards of the presidential palace before being swiftly stopped.

President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno was inside the palace at the time of the attack, the motive for which was still unclear and which left 19 people dead, including most of the assailants, according to the government.

The group was dressed in civilian clothing and came from a poor neighbourhood in the south of the city, Koulamallah said, describing them as drunken “Pieds Nickeles” — a reference to a French comic featuring hapless crooks.

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“The situation is completely under control… The destabilisation attempt was put down,” he said, in a video posted on Facebook hours after the shooting, surrounded by soldiers and with a gun at his belt.

Questioned later on national television, Koulamallah said the attack was “probably not terrorist”.

Beefed-up security and road blocks set up late on Wednesday had been lifted the following morning around the presidential palace, where traffic was back to normal, AFP journalists saw.

‘Set up’

Chad faces recurring attacks by the jihadist group Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region and recently abruptly ended a military accord with former colonial power France.

Hours before the shootout, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Deby Itno and other senior officials before leaving Chad to continue his tour of African countries in neighbouring Nigeria.

Videos circulating on social media claiming to have been filmed by soldiers at the entrance to the presidential palace showed security forces moving among bloodied corpses lying on the ground.

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Other people could be seen alive and sitting on the ground, tied up.

They all appeared to be young men in civilian clothes.

Eighteen assailants were killed and six wounded, Koulamallah said late on Wednesday.

A presidential guard had also been killed and three others wounded.

Koulamallah, who is also the foreign minister, told AFP that Deby Itno was inside the presidential palace at the time of the attack but gave no more details.

Late Wednesday, the minister congratulated the defence and security forces, saying on national television that “Chadians can sleep soundly, our country is well guarded”.

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But an opposition figure voiced doubts about the government’s account.

Max Kemkoye, spokesman for the Political Actors’ Consultation Group (GCAP), spoke on Thursday of an “unfortunate synopsis” and a “set up” orchestrated by those in power.

The government spokesman said he would make a statement to accredited diplomats later in the day and the prosecutor is also expected to make a statement.

It comes less than two weeks after Chad held a general election that the government hailed as a key step towards ending military rule but that was marked by low turnout and the opposition’s call for a boycott amid allegations of fraud.

Deby, 40, took power after the death of his father who had ruled the country with an iron fist for three decades.

He then won a five-year presidential mandate last May in a vote the opposition also denounced as fraudulent.

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– By: © Agence France-Presse