The inclusive national dialogue which opens on Saturday in Chad, to lead to elections that the government promises
"free and democratic"
, will be
"sovereign"
and its decisions
"enforceable",
according to a decree signed on Wednesday by the head of the junta, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno.
Mahamat Idriss Déby, who came to power in April 2021 at the head of a Transitional Military Council (CMT) the day after the death of his father, Idriss Déby, had promised to organize a dialogue with the civilian and armed opposition to allow, at the end of the transition, the transfer of power to civilians and elections within 18 months, renewable once.
“The inclusive national dialogue is sovereign”
and its resolutions are
“binding”
, according to a decree signed on Wednesday.
“Sovereign nature of dialogue”
"The President of the Transitional Military Council, President of the Republic, Head of State, is the guarantor"
, continues the decree.
This national reconciliation forum opens on August 20 in N'Djamena after several postponements.
Some 1,400 delegates, members of trade unions, political parties and the CMT, will meet for three weeks to discuss the reform of institutions and a new Constitution, which will then be put to a referendum.
About forty rebel groups, some of which have led offensives in recent years that have reached the gates of the presidential palace, will also be present at the dialogue, after having signed on August 8, after five months of sometimes stormy negotiations, a peace agreement with the junta in Doha.
But two of the main rebel groups, including the Front pour l'alternance et la concorde au Tchad (FACT), at the origin of the offensive which cost the life in April 2021 of Idriss Déby - himself had come to power shot in 1990 before ruling the country with an iron fist for 30 years - refused to sign the Doha agreement.
Wakit Tamma, a coalition of opposition parties and civil society members, also refused to participate in the dialogue, accusing the junta of perpetuating
"human rights violations".
"The sovereign character of the dialogue should have been enshrined in the transition charter, because a decree can be canceled at any time by a unilateral will"
, denounced Succès Masra, president of the Les Transformateurs party, member of Wakit Tamma.
Mahamat Idriss Déby had to give pledges to the international community to which he promised to return power to civilians within 18 months, and not to run for future elections.
But the head of the junta in June 2021 struck a first blow to his promises, considering an 18-month extension of the transition and handing over his
“destiny”
to
“God”
on a possible presidential candidacy.
