Since the disappearance of Idriss Deby, Togo has organized meetings with Chadian rebel groups to prepare for a national dialogue with the new authorities in N’Djamena. The existence of these consultations was leaked to the Chadian press and RFI was able to confirm it. A slow and difficult process.
Togo has intensified talks with Chadian rebels since April. First confined to the four main political-military groups in Chad: UFR, CCMSR, FNDJT and FACT, they were then expanded to five more armed groups before being limited again to the four original groups.
According to a good source, the goal of the Togolese initiative is to gather the demands of the rebels in order to contribute to the Chadian national dialogue that the new power in N’Djamena seems to want to follow. At present, the position of these rebel groups seems incompatible with the position of the Chadian authorities: not only are they calling for a general amnesty, the release of prisoners of war and political prisoners, but they are refusing to recognize the Transitional Military Committee through Mahamat Idriss Déby. As for the latter, he refuses to consider the rebels from FACTS, behind Idriss Deby’s death, as a party to the national dialogue.
The road promises to be long and difficult. But if successful, it would be a great success for the Lomé authorities, who have already encouraged the return to Chad of opponent Hassan Fadoul Tikri, after 21 years of exile in Togo. This Chadian-Togolese link goes back a long way. As early as 1979, President Gnassingbé Eyadéma crossed the Chari River in a canoe to play good office between the two Chadian warlords Hissène Habré and Goukouni Oueddeye.
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