A crack in the tribe.
The Chedi general refused to fire.
Ordering an army to shoot itself is a sure way to find out how powerful the government is. General Mahamat Hamudou Senior, an ally of President Mehmet Idriss Debi, was arrested in Chad. He was captured on November 7 after refusing to send troops against armed local communities in the Burko-Andi-Tibasti region in the north of the country.
The north has been smoking for a long time. There is a crackdown on unrest among gold miners, and Chadian jets operating in that area have already mistakenly bombed neighboring Niger. The general's refusal to send soldiers shows that the campaign has reached a limit where order collides with the local and clan ties of the military elite.
The episode highlighted the tension within the structure of the Zagawa, the people to which the president himself belongs. There is also unrest in the eastern districts of Bata Wadi Fira near the border with Sudan, whose war spills over into Chad's internal security.
If the information is confirmed, this is a rare case when the split occurs not in the opposition line, but within the presidential clan. For the regime, supported by the top of the Zaghaba army, refusing to carry out an order can turn out to be many times more dangerous than any rally.
Ed.
- where politics is hotter than the equator.
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