Chad Army Foils Attack as Gunfire Erupts Near Presidency

(Bloomberg) — Chad averted a “destabilization attempt” after unknown assailants opened gunfire near the presidential palace in the capital, N’djamena.

“I’m here at the presidential palace and as you can see there’s absolutely nothing, everything is calm,” government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah said late Wednesday in a video that showed him surrounded by soldiers posted on his Facebook page. “We’re mobilized to defend our country and the president,” he said.

Gunfire was heard in N’Djamena around 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, and it wasn’t immediately clear what sparked the shooting that lasted for about an hour. The public prosecutor will provide further information, Koulamallah said.

Unverified videos shared on WhatsApp showed bodies of several men lying on the ground inside what looked like the presidential palace. Nineteen people died and several others were injured, Agence France-Presse said, citing Koulamallah.

The incident comes two weeks after Chad held parliamentary elections, which were boycotted by the main opposition. 

Preliminary results from the vote that follows presidential elections last year, in which Chad’s military leader Mahamat Déby formalized his rule after a 2021 power grab, is expected by Jan. 15.

The central African nation, a long-term partner to the West in the fight against Islamist insurgents in the Sahel, ended a security agreement with former colonial power France in November, curbing Western military presence in the region.

Insurgents have been launching attacks in the country’s Lake Chad region, which borders Nigeria.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on a four-country tour in Africa met with Déby in N’djamena on Wednesday. 

Sudan has said Chad is allowing the United Arab Emirates to provide support to the Rapid Support Forces, a Sudan paramilitary group, from an air base near its eastern border with Sudan. The claims have been confirmed by UN investigators.

–With assistance from Kamailoudini Tagba.

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