UA 139/92 - Chad: extrajudicial executions / ill-treatment: More than 40 Chadian nationals forcibly repatriated from Nigeria including: Goukouni Guet, Ahmed Saker Bidon
EXTERNAL (for general distribution) AI Index: AFR 20/08/92
Distr: UA/SC
UA 139/92 Extrajudicial executions/Ill-treatment 5 May 1992
CHAD: More than 40 Chadian nationals forcibly repatriated from Nigeria including:
Goukouni Guet - leader of the Movement for Democracy and
Development
Ahmed Saker Bidon - former Assistant Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs
Amnesty International is concerned for the lives of an unspecified number of Chadian
nationals who were among more than 40 forcibly returned from Nigeria without legal
proceedings in February 1992. Following their return, they were imprisoned and none of
them has been seen by their relatives, lawyers or doctors.
Amnesty International has also recently received reports that several dozen of the more
than 40 have been secretly killed. Initial reports of extrajudicial executions came from
detainees who had escaped from custody. Some are reported to have been killed by deliberate
asphyxiation and others starved to death in cramped cells at the former Presidency in
N'Djamena and the headquarters of the security police known as the Centre de recherche
et de coordination des renseignments (CRCR).
Amongst those killed were Goukouni Guet, leader of the Mouvement pour la Démocratie et
le Développement, Movement for Democracy and Development, and Ahmed Saker Bidon, Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs in former President Hissein Habré's government. They are
reported to have been secretly killed in March 1992 in the capital, N'Djamena, by members
of the Chadian security forces.
Despite media publicity about these alleged extrajudicial executions, no information or
clarification has yet been forthcoming from the Chad Government, and no investigation has
been announced. There are grave fears for the safety of all those forcibly returned and
imprisoned.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In January 1992, armed rebels belonging to the Movement for Democracy and Development,
believed to be supporters of former President Habré, who had been sheltering in neighbouring
Niger, clashed with Chadian soldiers in the Lake Chad region in the west of the country.
They then retreated to neighbouring countries. After the clashes in apparently related
developments, at least 15 people were arrested in N'Djamena and at least three unarmed
civilians were shot dead by members of the security forces. Most were supporters of opposition
Rassemblement pour la démocratie et le progrès (RDP), Rally for Democracy and Progress,
party.
After the rebel attacks, the Chadian authorities apparently requested their counterparts
in the northern Nigerian State of Maiduguri to hand over these Chadian nationals suspected
of masterminding the attacks: several dozen Chadian nationals were subsequently arrested
and handed over in February to the Chadian authorities. When those forcibly returned arrived
in custody in N'Djamena they were reportedly subjected to torture, severe beatings and
other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Some were reportedly shot dead by
members of the Chadian security forces.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/telexes/faxes and airmail letters in FRENCH,
if possible:
- urgently requesting the authorities to take adequate steps to protect those still held
from human rights violations, and to set up an independent and impartial commission of
inquiry to investigate the killings and torture of Chadian nationals forcibly repatriated
from Nigeria;
- urging that the commission makes recommendations to the government on how such killings
and other human rights violations can be avoided in future;
page 2 of UA 139/92...
- urging that those found to be responsible for human rights violations are brought to
justice;
- expressing concern at reports that Goukouni Guet, Ahmed Saker Bidon and an
unspecified number of other Chadian nationals forcibly repatriated in February 1992 have
been secretly executed extrajudicially by members of the security forces;
- urging the authorities to make public the identities and places of detention of those
still held since their forcible repatriation from Nigeria;
- urging that they be allowed to receive visits by members of their families, independent
legal counsel and humanitarian organizations, and ensuring that they have adequate medical
care;
- requesting the authorities to release immediately all detainees forcibly returned from
Nigeria, unless they have been charged with a recognizably criminal offence and are to
be promptly brought to a fair trial.
APPEALS TO:
1) President:
Général Idriss DEBY
Président de la République
Présidence de la République
N'DJAMENA
République du Tchad
Telegrams: President Deby, N'Djamena,
Chad
Telexes: 5201 PRESIREP KD; 53O7
PRESIREP KD
Faxes: + 235 51 4501
[Salutation: Monsieur le Président de la
République / Dear President]
2) Prime Minister:
Monsieur Jean Alingue BAWOYEU
Premier Ministre
N'DJAMENA
République du Tchad
Telegrams: Premier Ministre Bawoyeu,
N'Djamena, Chad
Telexes: 5201 PRESIREP KD; 53O7
PRESIREP KD
Faxes: + 235 51 4501
[Salutation: Monsieur le Premier
Ministre/Dear Prime Minister]
3) Minister of Justice:
Monsieur Youssouf TOGOIMI
Ministre de la Justice,
Garde des Sceaux
Ministère de la Justice
N'DJAMENA
République du Tchad
Telegrams: Ministre Justice, N'Djamena,
Chad
Telexes: c/o 5328MINAFFET KD
[Salutation: Monsieur le Ministre / Dear
Minister]
4) Minister of Defence:
Monsieur Nadjita BEASSOUMAL
Ministre de la Défense nationale
Ministère de la Défense nationale
N'DJAMENA
République du Tchad
Telegrams: Ministre Defense, N'Djamena,
Chad
Faxes: c/o + 235 51 4501
[Salutation: Monsieur le Ministre / Dear
Minister]
COPIES OF YOUR APPEALS TO:
1) Minister of Interior:
Monsieur Ahamat HASSABALLAH
SOUBIANE
Ministre d'Etat à l'Intérieur
et à la Sécurité
Ministère de l'Intérieur
N'DJAMENA
République du Tchad
2) Human Rights Organization:
Monsieur Djondang TCHAKNONE
Président
Ligue tchadienne des droits de l'homme BP
2037
N'Djamena
République du Tchad
3) Newspaper:
Rédacteur-en-Chef
N'Djamena-Hebdo
11 Avenue Charles de Gaulle
BP 760
N'Djamena
République du Tchad
and to diplomatic representatives of Chad in your country
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section
office, if sending appeals after 15 June 1992.