Chad: Further Information on Incommunicado detention/Fear of torture/Fear of enforced disappearance
Ngarlejy Yorongar, parliamentarian and leader of the Front d’Action pour le Renouveau has resurfaced in Cameroon. He has said he was held in a detention facility, before being dumped in a cemetery in the south of N’Djamena on 21 February 2008. Lol Mahamat Choua has been released since being found detained in a military facility; Wadel Adbekader Kamougué escaped arrest and is hiding; and the whereabouts of Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh have been unknown since his arrest on February 3rd 2008.
PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 20/004/2008
05 March 2008
Further Information on UA 32/08 (AFR 20/001/2008, 05 February 2008) Incommunicado detention/Fear of
torture/Fear of enforced disappearance
CHAD Lol Mahamat Choua (m), leader, Rassemblement pour la Démocratie et le Progrès (RDP)
Ngarlejy Yorongar (m), leader, Front d’Action pour le Renouveau (FAR)
Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh (m), leader, Parti pour les Libertés et le Développement (PLD)
Wadel Adbekader Kamougué (m), leader, Union pour Renouveau et la Democratié (UDR)
Ngarlejy Yorongar, parliamentarian and leader of the Front d’Action pour le Renouveau (FAR) has resurfaced
in Cameroon. He has said he was held in a detention facility near Farcha in the capital, N’Djamena, before
being dumped in a cemetery in Ngomba in the south of N’Djamena on 21 February and then escaping. He
suspects he could have been poisoned and might need specialised treatment. France has offered him political
asylum.
The former Chadian president and leader of the Rassemblement pour la Démocratie et le Progrès (RDP), Lol
Mahamat Choua, was found detained in a military facility in N’djamena. The Chadian government
acknowledged they had him in custody on 14 February, before placing him under house arrest. He has since
been released.
Amnesty International has also learned that Wadel Adbekader Kamougué the leader of Union pour Renouveau
et la Democratié (UDR) escaped arrest on 3 February and is now hiding.
The whereabouts of Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh have been unknown since his arrest on 3 February, and he
could be victim of enforced disappearance. He is leader of the Parti pour les Libertés et le Développement
(PLD) and spokesperson for a coalition of opposition political parties. Both the international community and
local civil society organizations have been pressuring the Chadian authorities to reveal his location and
disclose why he was arrested.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On 31 January 2008, armed opposition movements launched a major offensive on N’Djamena. Heavy fighting
lasted three days. Hundreds of civilian casualties have been reported and thousands of people have fled the
capital to neighbouring Cameroon. The deployment of EUFOR force to eastern Chad, where it was supposed to
contribute to the protection of the civilian population and facilitate provision of humanitarian assistance, was
halted for a few weeks by fighting.
On 14 February, Chadian president Idriss Deby Itno introduced a state of emergency which has since been
extended to mid-March. It introduced a midnight curfew, checks on movement of people and vehicles, and
restrictions on the media. On 18 February, Chadian private media unanimously decided to cease publication
during the state of emergency and called upon the authorities to suspend the measure.
During a meeting in N’Djamena with the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, the European Union Commissioner
Louis Michel and the head of the Francophonie organization Abdou Diouf on 27 February, President Deby
announced that he has set up an international commission to investigate events which took place during the
attack of N’Djamena at the beginning February.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in French, English or your
own language:
- asking the authorities to disclose the whereabouts of Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh
- urging them to ensure that he has immediate access to his family and lawyer
- urging them to either charge him with a recognizable offence or release him immediately
Please also send appeals to France and other UN Security Council State Members:
- asking them to use their influence to ensure that the government of Chad immediately reveals what
happened to Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh and why he has been arrested to his family, legal representatives and
the international community
APPEALS TO:
Chad
President
Son excellence Idriss Deby Itno
Président de la République
Présidence de la République
BP 74
N'Djamena
Tchad
Fax: +235 251 45 01/ 252 43 73
Salutation: Dear President Deby
France
President
M. Nicolas Sarkozy
Président de la République
Palais de l’Elysée
55-57 Rue du Faubourg Saint Honore
75008 Paris Cedex
France
Fax: +33 1 47 42 24 65
Salutation: Dear President Sarkozy/Monsieur le Président
Foreign Minister
M. Bernard Kouchner
Ministre des Affaires étrangères et européennes
37 Quai d’Orsay
75351 Paris Cedex 07
France
Fax: +33 1 45 51 60 12
Salutation: Dear Minister/Monsieur le Ministre
United Nations
H.E. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin
President of the UN Security Council
Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation
136 East 67 Street
New York, NY 10065
USA
Fax: +1 212 628 0252
Salutation: Dear Ambassador
COPIES TO: diplomatic representatives of Chad accredited to your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if
sending appeals after 20 March 2008.