When Colonel Idriss Deby came to power in Chad, he swore to end the human rights violations which had cost over 40 000 lives during the presidency of Colonel Hissein Habre. Despite this promise, the Chadian security forces have continued to violate human rights on a very large scale. In the past two years, at least 1500 civilians have been killed by the Chadian National Army (ANT), particularly by one of its units, the Republican Guard (GR). Reprisals against civilians increasingly take the form of “disappearances” and extrajudical killings. Prisoners of conscience have been detained and torture and ill-treatment in detention have been reported. Abuses have been committed also by armed opposition groups, notably the CSNPD. In this report, AI outlines its concerns in Chad and argues that the sense of impunity with which members of the security forces violate human rights has been reinforced by the support provided by some foreign countries, which have continued to authorize and finance the supply of military and security equipment to the armed forces but which have rarely protested when these forces have killed unarmed civilians.
