Republic of Chad
Head of state: Idriss Déby
Head of government: Nagoum Yamassoum
Capital: N'Djaména
Population: 8.1 million
Official languages: French, Arabic
Death penalty: retentionist
Armed conflict continued in the north of the country. There were reports of human rights violations against the civilian population as a whole, and of suspected members or sympathizers of armed or political opposition movements in particular. These included the torture and ill-treatment of civilians by government forces. At least one death resulted from possible excessive use of force by members of the security forces in the context of presidential elections in May. Two political leaders were ill-treated and scores of opposition supporters briefly detained. Freedom of expression continued to be threatened and human rights defenders worked in a climate of intimidation and danger.
Background
In May President Idriss Déby was re-elected. Opposition candidates alleged that the election was marred by fraud and intimidation and called for the results to be annulled. The results were, however, confirmed by the Constitutional Court. On 30 May the government banned gatherings of more than 20 people. However, political protests continued and the Chadian security forces responded with excessive use of force.
An armed opposition group, the Mouvement pour la Démocratie et la Justice au Tchad (MDJT), Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad, continued to operate in northern Chad. Human rights violations by government troops, particularly during counter-insurgency operations against the MDJT, were reported. These included extrajudicial executions of unarmed civilians as well as suspected MDJT supporters or combatants; torture, particularly in military barracks; the destruction of villages; and the use of detainees as forced labourers. However, lack of access to the area made independent verification difficult.
Over 200 people were killed in intercommunal violence in eastern Chad in June.
Presidential elections
A number of serious human rights violations took place following the May presidential elections.
- An opposition supporter, Brahim Selguet, was fatally wounded by police gunfire at the house of an opposition leader on 28 May and died hours later. Police from the Compagnie d'action rapide police, Rapid Action Police Company, had arrived at the house to halt a meeting of opposition presidential candidates and their supporters. The presidential candidates were briefly detained. Although the government promised an investigation, by the end of the year none was known to have taken place and the exact circumstances of Brahim Selguet's killing remained unclear. Several other opposition supporters who had gathered at the house were beaten.
- On 11 June, the security forces used excessive force to disperse scores of women who had gathered outside the French embassy in N'Djaména in a peaceful protest against the conduct of the presidential election and in order to deliver a statement to the embassy. Anti-riot police threw a number of tear gas canisters at the protesters. Jacqueline Moudeina, a lawyer for the Comité International pour le Jugement de Hissein Habré, International Committee for the Trial of Hissein Habré, an international coalition of human rights organizations, was seriously injured. Members of the security forces reportedly asked for Jacqueline Moudeina to be pointed out to them before throwing a tear gas grenade in her direction. A senior member of the security forces searching for her reportedly twice visited the medical centre where she was receiving treatment. Thirteen other women were also injured, one seriously.
Scores of opposition supporters were arbitrarily detained. At the end of May, following the presidential elections, leading opposition members, including candidates in the presidential elections, were arrested and briefly detained on two occasions, accused of incitement to violence and civil disobedience.
- In May, eight people including Alain Nadjimangar, Serge Béré and Moïse Mbaïlo were arrested in Moundou and later transferred to the civil prison in Ndjaména. Moïse Mbaïlo was provisionally released a month later, but the others remained in detention at the end of the year, charged with membership of an armed group.
- Abel Karim Abbo Seleck "disappeared" after being taken from his home in N'Djaména on 26 June 2001 by two men believed to be members of the Chadian security forces. There was no official confirmation of his arrest, although he was rumoured to be held at the Agence nationale de sécurité, National Security Agency. He may have been arrested on suspicion of having links with the Chadian armed opposition. His whereabouts remained unknown at the end of the year.
- There was mounting evidence that at least six members of the MDJT were held in secret detention centres. In December 2000, seven members of the MDJT were presented on television shortly after their arrest in a counter-insurgency attack in Tanoua. In January 2001, the Chadian authorities stated that Yaya Labadri, one of those arrested, had died in detention as a result of wounds sustained during the December attack. The whereabouts of the other six detainees remained unknown at the end of the year.
The government failed to take action to address the continuing pattern of torture and ill-treatment in police and military custody.
- Ibrahim Adoum, reportedly died on 11 July as a result of ill-treatment in police custody in Abéché.
- A woman, who was arrested and briefly detained, alleged that she was made to undress and was tied in a position known as "arbatachar", which involves tying the victim's arms behind the back, causing intense pain and sometimes resulting in paralysis.
At the end of the year, 40 individual and two collective complaints were under investigation. The complaints had been lodged by the Association des Victimes des Crimes et Répressions Politiques au Tchad, Chadian Association of Victims of Political Repression and Crime, against members of the Direction de la documentation et de la sécurité, Directorate of Documentation and Security, a security service that was answerable directly to former President Hissein Habré. The complaints related to "crimes of torture, murder and enforced disappearance". In May the N'Djaména Constitutional Court had ruled that, although a special court to try Hissein Habré and his collaborators, provided for in a 1993 law, had never been established, the ordinary courts had jurisdiction over the cases. (See Senegal entry.)
Attacks on freedom of expression
There were further attacks on freedom of expression and on the freedom of the press.
- Michaël Didama, acting editor of the newspaper Le Temps, received a six-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of defamation in January. He was also ordered to pay substantial damages. The complaint against Michaël Didama was lodged by one of President Déby's nephews after Le Temps alleged that a number of attempted coups had been carried out by relatives of President Déby. The offices of Le Temps were also visited in January by members of the armed forces, apparently angry at an article which reported on the death toll in clashes in the north of the country. The visit appeared to be an attempt to intimidate Le Temps employees.
Reports
- Chad: Violent crack-down on peaceful protesters (AI Index: AFR 20/001/2001)
- Chad: The Habré legacy (AI Index: AFR 20/004/2001)
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